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IRGC-tied airline likely brought the Wuhan virus to Iran

Posted on 31/03/2020 by terrortrends

posted by Christopher W. Holton

Foreign Policy magazine has a blockbuster report that sheds light on why Iran has been one of the countries hardest hit by the Wuhan virus.

Not surprisingly, the story reveals double-talk, cover-ups and outright lies on the part of Iranian officials.

But of primary significance perhaps is the fact that the likely culprit is none other than Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the notorious organization that has already been fingered as the Ayatollahs’ chief mechanism for training and equipping jihadist terrorist proxies around the world.

Basically, what happened is that the IRGC-tied Mahan Airlines transported passengers to an from China…including after it was known that the Wuhan virus was an epidemic.

According to the Foreign Policy report, Iran announced the suspension of all flights to and from China on 31 January. But Mahan Air continued to fly to and from China for at least another week, including a flight directly from Wuhan itself.

Moreover, Foreign Policy cites information that indicates Mahan Air flights continued between China and Iran into March!

https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/03/30/mahan-air-iranian-airline-spread-coronavirus-and-lied-about-it/

Filed under: China, Iran, IRGC, Mahan Air, Uncategorized, Wuhan Virus | Tagged: China, Iran, IRGC, Mahan Air, Wuhan Virus | Leave a comment »

Bill Clinton Let Iran Get Away With Murder

Posted on 07/10/2015 by terrortrends

This comes as no surprise. Former FBI director Louis Freeh all but said as much.

President Bill Clinton knew that Iran and Hezbollah were behind the Islamikaze bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, in which 19 American servicemen were killed.

He, of course, did absolutely NOTHING about it.

Jihad metastasized on Bill Clinton’s watch while he philandered his way through 8 long years of disgrace. He is the phoniest person in the history of presidential politics. There is literally nothing authentic or genuine about this lowlife…

Former US president Bill Clinton’s administration had enough evidence of Iran’s sponsorship of a deadly terror attack in Saudi Arabia to prompt a communique to the Iranian president, but kept the information under wraps to avoid demands for a more forceful response…

http://www.timesofisrael.com/bill-clinton-knew-iran-was-behind-khobar-attack-cable-shows/

Filed under: Hezbollah, IRGC, Jihad, Qods Force, Saudi Arabia, Terrorism | Tagged: Bill Clinton, Islamikaze, Khobar Towers, Louis Freeh | Leave a comment »

No Surprise Here: Iran still seeking nuclear arms, says MEK

Posted on 08/10/2014 by terrortrends

A leading Iranian opposition group reports that the Islamic republic is still working on atomic weapons at installations that were relocated to evade detection.

The Mujahedin-e Khalk, or MEK, cited anonymous sources inside the regime. According to the Times of Israel, MEK reports that Iran’s Organization of Defensive Information and Research, or SPND, moved its most sensitive weapons research to a new Tehran location “in recent months.”

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) brigadier general, heads the SPND.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh

http://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-still-seeking-nuclear-arms-opposition-group-says/

Filed under: IRGC, MEK, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, nuclear program, nuclear scientist, nuclear talks, Organization of Defensive Information and Research, SPND | Tagged: Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Organization of Defensive Information and Research, SPND | Leave a comment »

Iran and Hezbollah: An Analysis of the Threat by Clare Lopez

Posted on 27/12/2013 by terrortrends

Retired CIA officer Clare Lopez has published an excellent, detailed analysis of the threat from Hezbollah as an arm of Iran’s arsenal.

Here is a brief excerpt and link to her report, entitled Hizballah: Iran’s Other Looming Threat to the West

The single most important fact to understand about Hizballah is that its chain of command goes directly to the Iranian Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, by way of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Qods Force. That Iranian connection, as well as Hizballah’s close and long-standing relationship with al-Qa’eda, the global reach of this Shi’ite jihadist group, and above all, its extensive presence and criminal activities in the Western Hemisphere, including inside the United States, all merit a closer look. With U.S. national security directly in Hizballah’s cross-hairs, it’s more important than ever to understand what this group is, who leads it, what has motivated them along a bloody 30-year trail of terrorism, and what damage this group is capable of inflicting on American interests.

For even as Hizballah is an Islamic terror organization, an Iranian proxy for power projection, a Transnational Criminal Organization, and a Lebanese military, political, and social domestic entity, it is above all a direct threat to U.S. national security. After all, and despite a complete media blackout on the topic that prevails to this day, on Iranian orders and working together with al-Qa’eda, Hizballah participated in the worst strike ever against the American homeland: the attacks of 9/11. There is no threshold, ideological or otherwise, that Hizballah has not already crossed or would not cross again, given a direct order from Tehran.

Word out of London in late 2013 is that the U.S. is engaged in secret, indirect negotiations with Hizballah, with British diplomats acting as intermediaries. Those talks followed closely on the U.S. capitulation to Iran over its nuclear weapons program during November 2013 discussions in Geneva and reflect a White House policy of seeking to normalize relations with the regime designated by the Department of State as the number one global state sponsor of terror. Hizballah remains a designated terror organization on the Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) list. And while the story about the U.S.-Hizballah talks in London made the Israeli and U.K. media, not one major U.S. media outlet thought it significant to report that the U.S. administration is reaching out to mend relations with what many describe as the most dangerous Islamic terror organization in the world.

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/hizballah-irans-other-looming-threat-to-the-west?f=must_reads#ixzz2ohv16rm3

Filed under: Hezbollah, IRGC, Jihad, Pasdaran, Qods Force, Terrorism | Tagged: Hezbollah, Hizballah, Iran, Jihad, terrorism | Leave a comment »

The Other Threat Obama and Kerry Ignored: Ballistic Missiles

Posted on 27/11/2013 by terrortrends

For over a decade, Iran has had a robust, active ballistic missile development program. There are new developments on this front that are being covered ably by the crew over at the Free Beacon. Before we link those, here are the basics of the Iranian ballistic missile program…

Iran has several types of ballistic missiles, ranging from Short Range Ballistic Missiles (SRBM) to Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles (IRBM). Some are imported systems, some are domestic copies of foreign systems and some are indigenous systems. Iran is also known to be working on ICBMs–Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles.

According to the Obama Defense Department’s “Annual Report on the Military Power of Iran,” published in April of 2012, US intelligence estimates indicate that Iran will be capable of testing Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles in 2015. A May 2009 joint US-Russian assessment published by the East-West Institute estimated that Iran was 6-8 years away from fielding an ICBM. The United States Institute of Peace estimates that Iran will have an ICBM capable of striking the US by 2020.

Iranian Short-Range Ballistic Missiles

Fateh-110

This solid-fueled, mobile missile system was developed jointly with Red China, North Korea and Syria as a replacement for SCUD missiles. It entered production in 2002 and has a range of 185 miles. This is far enough to hit targets into US installations in Afghanistan, Kuwait and Qatar.

Shehab-1

Developed from the Soviet-era SCUD-B, this mobile, liquid-fueled rocket has a range of 185 miles. This is far enough to target US bases in Afghanistan, Kuwait and Qatar.

Shehab-2

Developed as an improvement from imported North Korean SCUD-C ballistic missiles, this liquid-fueled, mobile missile system has a range of 435 miles. This is sufficient range to reach US bases in Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar.

Tondar-69

This is the name given by Iran to its CSS-8 rockets acquired from Red China. This solid-fueled, mobile missile has a range of 90 miles and is more of a battlefield rocket, though it could reach targets outside Iran if fired near Iran’s coast or borders.

Medium Range Ballistic Missiles (MRBM)

Shehab-3

This mobile, liquid-fueled missile was developed from North Korea’s NoDong 1 missile. Estimate’s of the Shehab-3’s range capabilities vary; some estimates place it in the IRBM category, rather than the MRBM category. The range estimates vary between 550 and 1500 miles. The upper end of this range would include all of Israel, as well as the eastern Mediterranean, all of Turkey, parts of Greece and all of Saudi Arabia. The lower end of the spectrum would place much of Saudi Arabia within range. There are several variants of the Shehab-3 with different names.

Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles (IRBM)

Sajjil

There are at least three generations of this ballistic missile. It is a solid-fueled, mobile rocket and represents a significant advancement in Iranian capability because it is two-staged and thus lays the foundation for intercontinental flight. Also, because it is solid-fueled, it can be launched relatively quickly with little preparation. Range estimates vary from 1200 to 1800 miles, potentially putting targets as far as parts of Poland and parts of Italy within range.

Iranian Space Rocketry

Of particular significance and concern are Iranian efforts at space rocketry, through which it is in the process of mastering the multi-stage rocketry that is required for long-range Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles capable of hitting the US from Iran. Readers may recall that North Korea has also used the cover of a space program to develop ballistic missile technology.

Iran’s Safir rocket was used to place a satellite in orbit in 2009. That launch displayed a new level of capability in propulsion and multi-stage rocketry that the Iranians had previously not demonstrated. The rocket appears to be a development of the Sajjil with greater length but a similar diameter.

Iran has unveiled a prototype of a larger, more capable multi-stage rocket known as the Simorgh, designed to achieve higher orbits with heavier payloads than the Safir. Thus far, the Simorgh has not flown.

*******************************************

We provide this background because of announced developments by Iran’s ballistic missile program that have coincided with the Obama-Kerry-Ayatollah Agreement.

This morning, Bill Gertz of the Free Beacon detailed the latest on Iranian-North Korean cooperation on ballistic missiles. House Republicans revealed that US intelligence is warning them that Iran and North Korea are developing new engines for ballistic missiles at the same time that Obama and Kerry are asking Americans to back an agreement on nuclear technology with the Ayatollahs:

Iranian collaboration with North Korea on a new rocket booster for long-range missiles undermines the deal with Tehran on its nuclear program, key Senate and House Republicans said on Tuesday.

“While the president was undertaking his secret negotiations—which Congress wasn’t informed of—he had to know Iran and North Korea were testing new engines for ballistic missiles to target the United States,” said Rep. Mike Rogers (R., Ala.) chairman of the House Armed Services subcommittee on strategic forces.

The chairman, whose subcommittee is in charge of overseeing U.S. strategic weapons, ballistic missile defenses, and space programs, made the comments in response to a report Tuesday revealing that Iran is covertly working with North Korea on a new 80-ton rocket booster that can be used in both nations’ long-range missile programs.

In the Senate, Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) also criticized the Iran nuclear deal for not addressing the threat of Iran’s ICBM program.

Reports of Iran-North Korea ICBM collaboration follow new anti-America and anti-Israel outbursts from the Islamist regime in Tehran, Cruz said.

http://freebeacon.com/iran-north-korea-missile-cooperation-undermines-recent-geneva-nuclear-deal/

On the heels of Gertz’s article, Adam Kredo posted an article about a report directly from Iranian state-run media quoting an announcement on ballistic missile technology from a leader of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC):

A top Iranian military leader announced late Tuesday that Iran has developed “indigenous” ballistic missile technology, which could eventually allow it to fire a nuclear payload over great distances.

Brigadier General Hossein Salami, the lieutenant commander of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), made the critical weapons announcement just days after Iran and the West signed a deal aimed at curbing the country’s nuclear activities.

Salami claimed that “Iran is among the only three world countries enjoying an indigenous ballistic missile technology,” according to the state-run Fars News Agency. [Editor’s note: this claim would no doubt come as a surprise to Great Britain, France, Red China, India, and Israel.]

Of particular interest and significance from Kredo’s article are these passages from Michael Rubin:

Former Pentagon adviser Michael Rubin said that the United States is not paying great enough attention to Tehran’s military advancements.

“Perhaps, [Secretary of State] John Kerry believes that Iran only wants ballistic missiles for peaceful purposes,” said Rubin, author of Dancing with the Devil: The Perils of Engaging Rogue Regimes.

“The fact of the matter is that Kerry and crew left both ballistic missiles and the nuclear warhead trigger experimentation at Parchin [military site] off-the-table” during talks in Geneva, Rubin said. “It’s the diplomatic equivalent of installing a burglar alarm system in your house but leaving the keys in the door.”

http://freebeacon.com/iran-announces-development-of-ballistic-missile-technology/

Filed under: ballistic missiles, IRGC, John Kerry, missiles, nuclear program, nuclear talks, Obama, space program, U.S. Congress | Tagged: ballistic, Iran, Kerry, missile, missiles, nuclear, nuclear weapons, Obama | 3 Comments »

34 Years Ago Today

Posted on 04/11/2013 by terrortrends

Thirty-four years ago today, Iranian “students” stormed the US embassy in Tehran, Iran with the approval and, later, outright support, of the Ayatollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran and the Islamic Revolution.

This should properly be regarded as the opening action in the modern era of a global Islamic jihadist insurgency directed at the US in particular and the West in general.

To be sure that insurgency is not homogenous and has been executed in fits and starts with often violent disputes between Islamic jihadist factions, but a global insurgency it is nonetheless.

To those of us old enough to remember, these images are vivid. Today, America will do nothing to commemorate the events of 4 November, 1979. But in Iran, it is annually a day of celebration.

Some in America, particularly the “Blame America First” crowd on the Left and the Right, will blame America for the embassy invasion and hostage crisis, due to a US backed coup in the early 1950s. This expresses a profound ignorance of the doctrine behind the Islamic revolution, its goals and its self-imposed requirement to export itself globally. In a nutshell, the 1953 coup which overthrew Mohammad Mosaddegh of the National Front Party was not the defeat of an Islamic regime such as came to power under the fall of the Shah of Iran in the late 1970s. The Islamists were not supporters of Mosaddegh and did not seek the return to power of his political faction. In fact, the Ayatollah Khomeini declared the leaders of the National Front to be apostates in 1981, effectively a death sentence under Shariah.

The takeover of the US embassy was the opening salvo in a clandestine war waged against the US by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps which continues up through today…

Filed under: Hostage Crisis, IRGC, Khomeini, US embassy | Leave a comment »

CNS News: More Evidence Emerges of Worldwide Iranian-Backed Terror Plotting

Posted on 27/02/2013 by terrortrends

CNS News has published a very important analysis that shows that Iran’s terrorist plots–run through the Pasdaran and Hezbollah–aimed at Israel and the United States, have been uncovered in locales as diverse as Thailand, India, Kenya, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Cyprus, and Bulgaria.

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/more-evidence-emerges-worldwide-iranian-backed-terror-plotting

Filed under: Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Hezbollah, India, IRGC, Israel, Jihad, Kenya, Pasdaran, Qods Force, Terrorism, Terrorist Plot, Thailand | Tagged: Hezbollah, Hizballah, Iran, Pasdaran, Qods | Leave a comment »

Iran Continues to Edge Closer to Nuclear Weapons

Posted on 23/02/2013 by terrortrends

There have been two recent developments that should greatly raise the level of concern over the Islamic Republic of Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons.

First was the recent North Korean nuclear test. There is no doubt that Iran and North Korea have cooperated for decades on a variety of matters. They have evidently shared ballistic missile technology and there have even been reports from the US Congressional Research Service of North Korean advisers training Hezbollah terrorists in the Bekaa Valley, something that would almost certainly be set up by the Iranian Pasdaran.

In the past, when the North Koreans have conducted weapons tests of various types, there have been repeated reports of Iranian observers on the scene.

The latest North Korean nuclear test indicates that North Korea has two separate and relatively successful nuclear weapons tracks: one plutonium and the other enriched uranium.

Given the close relationship between North Korea and Iran in the past, and given that Iran is awash in petrodollars (despite sanctions) and North Korea is always wanting for cash, one cannot help but be concerned that at the very least nuclear technology is changing hands. At the worst, North Korea might well simply sell Iran a nuclear bomb.

Meanwhile, Iran’s own nuclear research efforts continue apace. Keep in mind that, even if North Korea hands over a bomb to Iran, Iran would almost certainly want to develop and maintain a nuclear infrastructure to support a nuclear arsenal.

The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) issued a report last week that Iran has installed and begun using advanced centrifuges which have enabled them to speed up their uranium enrichment. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that Iran has enriched uranium to a level that is 70% of what is needed for a weapon and, given Iran’s current capabilities, the Ayatollahs could have enough enriched uranium to make a bomb “by the summer.” That’s just 4 months off.

Meanwhile, it seems as if the US Obama administration is preparing for a nuclear Iran. The evidence for this comes from the notoriously shameless shills for Obama at the inappropriately named Center for a New American Security. The eggheads over there are now dismissing the notion that a nuclear-armed Iran will touch off a Middle East nuclear arms race. They base this on the fact that the Saudis do not possess the know-how to run a nuclear weapons program.

What they completely overlook, or conveniently fail to acknowledge, is the fact that Saudi Arabia has scarcely EVER possessed the know-how to do ANYTHING complex. For decades the Saudis have purchased everything they need and the technical support to go along with it.

Despite the CANS denials, there is an obvious source for the Saudis to turn to for nuclear weapons: Pakistan. Pakistan reportedly has between 90 and 110 nuclear warheads. They have the technical expertise for a nuclear program. But most importantly, it has been widely reported that the Pakistani nuclear program was financed by Saudi Arabia in the first place.

So, the Center for a New American Security’s latest comic book disguised as scholarly output is stillborn.

Of course, the report downplays the possibility of a Middle East nuclear arms race, and it does not delve into any of the other potentially terrible outcomes from a nuclear-armed Iran.

http://www.worldtribune.com/2013/02/22/pro-obama-think-tank-downplays-regional-threat-of-a-nuclear-iran/

Filed under: IAEA, IRGC, Israel, Natanz, North Korea, nuclear program, Obama, Pakistan, Pasdaran, sanctions, Saudi Arabia, United Nations | Leave a comment »

Qassem Suleimani: The world’s most dangerous terrorist

Posted on 10/09/2012 by terrortrends

Remember the name Qassem Suleimani. He is the Iranian who heads the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, a barbarous and bloody wing of the Ayatollahs’ imperialistic aggression.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qasem_Soleimani

http://www.aei.org/article/foreign-and-defense-policy/regional/middle-east-and-north-africa/irans-most-dangerous-general/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/9525569/Europes-a-soft-touch-for-the-worlds-most-dangerous-terrorist.html

Filed under: IRGC, Jihad, Pasdaran, Qassem Suleimani, Qods Force, Terrorism | Leave a comment »

Report: Iranian Unit 400 terror squad targeting Jewish, Israeli and Western targets in Turkey

Posted on 31/03/2012 by terrortrends

Sky News is the UK is reporting that a special unit of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps al Quds Brigade has been deployed to Turkey with the intent of targeting Jewish, Israeli and Western targets for terrorist attacks.

The name of the special unit is “Unit 400.”

It would certainly not be the first time that Jihadists have used Turkey as a battleground for terrorist attacks on Western targets. And because Turkey has a large Islamist community, is essentially ruled by an Islamist party and has become decidedly anti-Israel since the Islamists came to power, a terrorist force like Unit 400 can find clandestine support and blend in to the landscape almost effortlessly.

Note also that Unit 400 has been named as plotting terrorist attacks in European nations and also in the USA. The US plot involved cooperation with Mexican drug cartels.

According to the report, the Iranian regime wants to use the Unit 400 attacks to send a signal to the West that Iran is highly capable of waging irregular warfare in the West should Iran be attacked over its nuclear program.

Unit 400 is a serious threat. These are highly-trained, professional operatives, not young Jihadis who have been duped into going Islamikaze by an Imam in some hell-hole mosque in a bad neighborhood.

http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16199713

Filed under: IRGC, Israel, Khamenei, Pasdaran, Qods Force, Terrorism, Terrorist Plot, Turkey, Uncategorized, Unit 400 | 1 Comment »

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