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Al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri The Coordinator 2015 Part 19-118-Caliphate-vs-Regular Armies-8-Iran-8

The Battle reliability of standing and moderate forces opposing irregulars

March 1, Iraq launches offensive to take back Tikrit from ISIL, and than Mosul, and Anbar the critical part next in the Mission: but Who Will Evict ISIL?

Moreover who will get the most out of it?

Director Of Al-Arabiya's English Website: Obama Is The Only One Who Fails To Realize The Iranian Danger

• "We are all concerned about what happens after the drums stop beating and ISIL is defeated," Dempsey said.

• Petraeus said the Iran-backed Shiite militias who are helping to fend off ISIS are "the foremost threat" to long-term stability in Iraq. "Longer term, Iranian-backed Shia militia could emerge as the preeminent power in the country, one that is outside the control of the government and instead answerable to Tehran."

• And the ISIS threat also gave Iran an opening to expand its influence in the region, sending its elite Revolutionary Guards to Iraq to train, advise and fight ISIS, whose advances into Iraq sounded alarm bells in Iran

• The situation in Syria is also one Petraeus said he is "profoundly worried about.""Until it is capped, it is going to continue to spew radioactive instability and extremist ideology over the entire region," said Petraeus,

• "Any strategy to stabilize the region thus needs to take into account the challenges in both Iraq and Syria. It is not sufficient to say that we'll figure them out later."

March 22, ‘Death to America’: Iran’s Supreme Leader accuses the US of ‘bullying’ The deadline is looming for a deal to be struck on Iran’s nuclear program and it seems the country’s Supreme Leader is feeling the pressure. - Iran and the six-nation group of global powers (the US, the UK, France, Russia, China and Germany) will meet again on Wednesday, March 25, with a view to reaching a rough agreement on the disputed nuclear programme by the end of the month. -- Ali Khamenei has the last word on all matters of state. Long mistrustful of Tehran’s main negotiating partner in the ongoing talks, he used a recent speech in Iran’s second-largest city Mashdad, to lash out at the US. During his discourse in the Imam Reza Shrine, he accused Washington of ‘bullying’ and trying to turn Iranians against Islamic rule. Shouts of ‘Death to America’ could be heard coming from the audience. “Of course, yes, death to America,” Khamenei continued, “because America is the original source of this pressure. They insist on putting pressure on our dear people’s economy. What’s their goal? Their goal is to put the people against the system.” Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, painted a rosy picture of the discussions. “God willing, at the end of negotiations, we will reach a deal and an understanding which will benefit all nations,” he said.

Petraeus: ISIS isn't biggest long-term threat to region

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By Jeremy Diamond, CNN Updated 1240 GMT (2040 HKT) March 21, 2015 CNN)The biggest threat to Iraq's long-term stability isn't ISIS, according to Gen. David Petraeus, who led the U.S. surge during the Iraq War. Instead, Petraeus said the Iran-backed Shiite militias who are helping to fend off ISIS are "the foremost threat" to long-term stability in Iraq, according to an interview with the Washington Post. The comments provide the most expansive glimpse yet into how Petraeus may be helping to shape the Obama administration's strategy in Iraq as he continues to advise the National Security Council on the issue. Those militias, many funded and trained by Iran, have been an important part of efforts to push ISIS out of Syria, but they have also been accused of war crimes -- allegedly murdering not just ISIS fighters, but also Sunni civilians. "They have, to a degree, been both part of Iraq's salvation but also the most serious threat to the all-important effort of once again getting the Sunni Arab population in Iraq to feel that it has a stake in the success of Iraq rather than a stake in its failure," Petraeus told the Post. "Longer term, Iranian-backed Shia militia could emerge as the preeminent power in the country, one that is outside the control of the government and instead answerable to Tehran." Petraeus' comments come as the U.S.'s strategy to defeat ISIS is facing increased scrutiny on Capitol Hill as lawmakers debate how to enshrine the U.S.'s war against ISIS into legislation formally authorizing military force. Lawmakers pressed the U.S.'s top national security officials during a hearing last week on the growing influence of Iran in the region and the long-term implications for security -- something Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Marin Dempsey said raised legitimate concerns.

"We are all concerned about what happens after the drums stop beating and ISIL is defeated," Dempsey said. Iran's growing influence in the region dates back to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which toppled Saddam Hussein's Sunni regime and put Shiite Muslims -- the country's dominant group -- in power. Iran, also a Shiite-majority country, seized the opportunity to rekindle ties with its formerly rival neighbor. And the ISIS threat also gave Iran an opening to expand its influence in the region, sending its elite Revolutionary Guards to Iraq to train, advise and fight ISIS, whose advances into Iraq sounded alarm bells in Iran. Despite ongoing negotiations with the U.S., Iran, which supports destabilizing terror groups in the region, remains a threat to U.S. allies and the U.S.'s strategic interests -- like Iran's support of the Assad regime in Syria.

The situation in Syria is also one Petraeus said he is "profoundly worried about.""Until it is capped, it is going to continue to spew radioactive instability and extremist ideology over the entire region," said Petraeus, who also served as President Barack Obama's CIA director. "Any strategy to stabilize the region thus needs to take into account the challenges in both Iraq and Syria. It is not sufficient to say that we'll figure them out later." The Obama administration's strategy in dealing with the still-ongoing civil war in Syria has been just one of the many magnets for criticism from GOP lawmakers, the most prominent of which is Sen. John McCain, who has argued the U.S. should do more to stem the violence in that country -- notably, arming moderate rebels fighting the Syrian regime. The Obama administration has trained and armed some opposition forces and is still trying to identify the ideal partners for the U.S. on the ground in Syria, but those efforts would only be aimed at defeating ISIS, not the Assad regime. And the U.S. has focused on fighting ISIS, leading a coalition that is pummeling the extremist group from the air while coordinating with local forces on the ground. Those efforts have spared the Syrian regime.

March 4, 2015 Special Dispatch No.5983 Director Of Al-Arabiya's English Website: Obama Is The Only One Who Fails To Realize The Iranian Danger

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In a March 3, 2015 article on Al-Arabiya's English-language website, the website's editor, Faisal J. 'Abbas, wrote that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is right to warn Obama against an agreement with Iran. He remarked that, while it was rare for any reasonable person to agree with Netanyahu on anything, the Israeli PM had "hit the nail on the head" when he said that Middle Eastern countries were collapsing and that terror organizations, mostly backed by Iran, were filling in the vacuum. The problem with Iran, he explained, is not just its nuclear ambitions but also its expansionist aspirations, for the sake of which it backs various Shi'ite militias as well as Sunni ones, including Al-Qaeda. Moreover, he said, while in the past Iran carried out its terrorist activities in secret, today it carries them out in the open. For instance, it does not bother to hide the presence of Qods Force commander Qassem Soleimani in Syria.'Abbas noted that, paradoxically, while fear of Iran is the only thing that Arabs and Israelis agree on, the only one who fails to realize the danger is U.S. President Obama, "who is now infamous for being the latest pen-pal of the Supreme Leader of the World's biggest terrorist regime," 'Ali Khamenei. The following are excerpts from his article, lightly edited for clarity.[1]"In Just A Few Words, Mr. Netanyahu Managed To Accurately Summarize A Clear And Present Danger" "It is extremely rare for any reasonable person to ever agree with anything Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says or does. However, one must admit, Bibi did get it right, at least when it came to dealing with Iran. The Israeli PM managed to hit the nail right on the head when he said that Middle Eastern countries are collapsing and that 'terror organizations, mostly backed by Iran, are filling in the vacuum' during a recent ceremony held in Tel Aviv... "In just a few words, Mr. Netanyahu managed to accurately summarize a clear and present danger, not just to Israel (which obviously is his concern), but to other U.S. allies in the region. What is absurd, however, is that despite this being perhaps the only thing that brings together Arabs and Israelis (as it threatens them all), the only stakeholder that seems not to realize the danger of the situation is President Obama, who is now infamous for being the latest pen-pal of the Supreme Leader of the World's biggest terrorist regime: Ayottallah Ali Khamenei (Although, the latter never seems to write back!)"Just to be clear, nobody disagrees that ridding Iran of its nuclear ambitions is paramount. And if this can be achieved peacefully, then it would be even better. However, [no] reasonable man can possibly turn a blind eye to the other realities on the ground. Indeed, it is Mr. Obama's controversial take on managing global conflicts that raises serious questions. A case in point is his handling of the Syrian crisis, where according to his own philosophical views, Obama probably takes pride that he managed to rid the Assad regime of its chemical weapons arsenal without firing a single bullet. Of course, in theory, this could be quite an achievement... but in reality, the problem with what happened is that the REAL issue hasn't been resolved; as such, the Syrian regime continues – until this day – to slaughter [its] own people (albeit using conventional weapons, you know… your everyday bullets, missiles and barrel bombs)!""The Real Iranian Threat Is Not Just The Regime's Nuclear Ambitions, But Its Expansionist Approach And State-Sponsored Terrorism Activities""As such, the real Iranian threat is not just the regime's nuclear ambitions, but its e xpansionist approach and state-sponsored terrorism activities, which are still ongoing. What is noteworthy is that, whilst in the past Tehran plotted and

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implemented most of its terror activities in secret (apart from a few obvious examples such as the 1983 Beirut attack on U.S. Marines), today the Islamic Republic seems so at ease that, as noted by renowned media columnist Diana Moukalled recently,[2] it went public with documenting the appearances of Iranian General Qassim Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force. In her latest column, [Diana] Moukalled wrote the days of the few, amateur shots of the infamous Commander are long gone. 'Since a few months [ago], photos of Qassim Soleimani have become plentiful and available in High Definition. Soleimani is no longer that secretive personality whose role over the past two decades has lingered been between myth and reality. He is now telling us bluntly: Yes, I am Iran's strongman who is responsible for the Iranian military's expansion in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Palestine,' she wrote. A photograph posted by Mashregh News, an Iranian outlet close to the country's Revolutionary Guards Corps, shows top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani (R) embracing the leader of Iraq's Shiite Badr militia Hadi al-Amiri. This picture is not dated, but is thought to have been taken in 2014. "Among his many [dealings], Soleimani is [also] the godfather of Iraq's infamous 'Asaa'ib Ahl Al-Haq' (AAS) brigade, a Shiite paramilitary terrorist group responsible for dozens of atrocious attacks and murdering of both Iraqis and Americans."Not only is Iran responsible for sponsoring Shiite terrorist groups, but Sunni ones too. In fact, according to the U.S.'s own State Department, Tehran was home to a number of Al-Qaeda facilitators and high ranking financiers. These accusations are also backed by findings of the U.S. Treasury Department as well."Now, some would argue that it would be biased and/or naive to leave Arab countries, such as Saudi Arabia, out of the equation and blame most of the regions problems on the mischievous Iranian regime. On the contrary, it would be biased and/or naïve NOT to blame Iran for such problems. Yes, there are terrorists in Saudi Arabia and there are people who financed terrorism, but these are officially outlaws, who are either in jail, being hunted down or are hiding in the caves of Tora Bora or some other remote area. The same, sadly, doesn't apply to the terrorists of Iran; these are in uniform, hold government positions and are not bothering to hide their evil plots anymore!" Endnotes: [1] English.alarabiya.net, March 3, 2015. [2] English.alarabiya.net, March 4, 2015.

Western powers negotiating an agreement with Iran on its nuclear activity will not accept "a bad deal", UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond says. Ministers from France, Germany, and the UK along with the US Secretary of State met in London amid increased urgency to reach agreement by the end of March. Six world powers want to ensure that Iran cannot develop nuclear weapons - something it denies doing. Earlier, Iran's president spoke positively about reaching agreement. "There is nothing that cannot be resolved," although some differences still remain, Iranian state media quoted President Hassan Rouhani as saying. Mr Rouhani said that in the current round of talks in Lausanne, Switzerland, "shared points of view emerged in some of the areas where there had been a difference of opinion" and these could become "a foundation for a final agreement". Speaking after Saturday's talks in London, Mr Hammond said: "We will not do a bad deal that does not meet our red lines." An official statement from the meeting said: "We agreed that substantial progress had been made (with Iran) in key areas although there are still important issues on which no agreement has yet been possible. "Now is the time for Iran, in particular, to take difficult decisions."

U.S. Loses Track of $500 Million Worth of Weapons in Yemen, Including Drones, Helicopters and 1.2 Million Rounds of Ammo Thursday, March 19, 2015

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Gone with the collapse of Yemen’s government is half a billion dollars worth of American military equipment and weapons provided to the former regime. The Department of Defense says it can’t say for sure what happened to $500 million in aid the U.S. military gave to Yemen after Shiite Houthi rebels toppled the government. The assistance covers a wide range of weaponry, aircraft and equipment—enough to equip a small army of rebels. Unaccounted for are 1.25 million rounds of ammunition, 200 Glock pistols, 200 M-4 rifles, 160 Humvees, four Huey helicopters, four small drones, one transport and surveillance plane and other equipment.Defense officials have met privately with members of Congress and key staffers to inform them about the problem. “We have to assume it’s completely compromised and gone,” a legislative aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity told The Washington Post.The Shiite Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, “have taken over many Yemeni military bases in the northern part of the country, including some in Sana’a that were home to U.S.-trained counter-terrorism units. Other bases have been overrun by fighters from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula,” the Post’s Craig Whitlock reported. The lost munitions only add to Yemen’s arms culture. The Middle Eastern country has “the second-highest gun ownership rate in the world, ranking behind only the United States, and its bazaars are well stocked with heavy weaponry,” according to Whitlock. -Noel BrinkerhoffTo Learn More:

Pentagon Loses Track of $500 Million in Weapons, Equipment Given to Yemen (by Craig Whitlock, Washington Post)Military Weapons Given to Police have Gone Missing (by Steve Straehley, AllGov)Thousands of U.S. Weapons Provided to Afghan Forces Are Unaccounted For (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)U.S.-Led Military Unit in Afghanistan Lost $230 Million in Spare Parts, Then Spent $138 Million for More (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

March 17, To Defeat ISIS, Iraq Forced to Accept Iran's 'Suffocating Embrace'Baghdad must make unsavory choices as the U.S. sits out a key battle to retake a strategic town from the Islamic State group. Containing Iran’s influence in the Middle East has been a key U.S. policy goal for decades. But President Barack Obama’s refusal to be dragged back into another messy land war has forced a desperate Iraqi government to accept the help of its eastward neighbor as it attempts to beat back the Islamic State group, which now occupies as much as a third of the country. A few thousand Iraqi government soldiers deployed in recent weeks to retake the town of Tikrit, an Islamic State stronghold and critical point on the road to defeating the extremist network. That force, however, is bolstered by an overwhelming cadre of 20,000 Iranian-backed and trained Shiite Muslim militiamen, led by veteran Iranian commanders of shadowy forces well trained to lead the corps of like-minded believers. Manpower thus far has proved crucial, as Tikrit, the birthplace of Sunni Muslim leader Saddam Hussein, was heavily fortified with extremist fighters, embedded explosive devices and experienced snipers. By most accounts, the Iraqis have had more success repelling the Islamic State group in the two-week battle than in attempts last year to turn back the militants. But the U.S. has not dropped one bomb in support of this mission, despite its eagerness for the regular army it stood up and trained to achieve some sort of victory after falling apart during the Islamic State group’s initial onslaught last summer. Even now, the Pentagon is not planning airstrikes despite Iraqi officials’ claims the offensive has stalled and requires coalition airpower. U.S. detachment, Iranian opportunism and Iraqi dysfunction have converged on Tikrit ahead of a much larger operation in Mosul, whose size of more than a million residents may require some form of U.S. military support if it is to be wrested from Islamic State group control. The presence of foreign Shiite fighters, taking their cues from Tehran, is, however, complicating what U.S. officials for months had touted as their singular

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effort to help Iraq retake its sovereign territory. Cooperation among these actors, in any form, is not going to be easy. The Iran-backed Shiite militias’ benign title of “popular mobilization forces” masks a potent corps that, at least to many who led the last U.S. war in Iraq, offers an immediate reminder of dirty, bloody and protracted battles that led thousands of young American troops and countless Iraqis to their deaths. “It’s a little hard for us to be allied on the battlefield with groups of individuals who are unrepentantly covered in American blood,” says Ryan Crocker. The career diplomat served as U.S. ambassador to Iraq from 2007 to 2009, key years during the war when U.S. “surge” troops engaged in brutal fighting against Iran-backed Shiite militias, such as Muqtada al-Sadr’s paramilitary Mahdi Army. Even among Iraq’s Shiite leaders, there is little appetite for ceding to Iranian influence – the tradeoff that accompanies the success of Iran’s proxy fighters. “You must help us avoid the suffocating embrace of the Persians,” Shiite leaders in Iraq’s government have told their American counterparts in closed-door meetings, according to some in leadership roles during the last war there, warning of the contractual allure of accepting Iranian aid. The arrangement now appears to be Iraq’s best chance for survival. Tikrit represents the first major attempt by the Iraqi military and the Iran-backed Shiite militias to retake ground seized last summer, following multiple unsuccessful attempts by the local military last year to win back the city. The Pentagon’s top officer has no doubt of coalition success in retaking ground in Iraq from the Islamic State group. He also does not doubt that success is tied to Iran’s involvement. “I am concerned about how they can wield that influence,” Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week. According to Dempsey’s assessment, roughly 1,000 Sunni Muslim tribal fighters, a brigade of roughly 3,000 regular Iraqi troops, and a few hundred Counter-Terrorism Service commandos were fighting to retake Tikrit at the time, in addition to the 20,000 Shiite militiamen. It remains unclear specifically why the U.S. is not more involved. Some reports indicate the Iraqi government never requested U.S. air support. Others stipulate the U.S. was too concerned about the chance of an accidental Iranian casualty and the effect that would have on the tense ongoing negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program. Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steven Warren confirmed on Monday the U.S. absence from this operation but refused to offer specifics on the reason, citing confidential communications with the Iraqi government. He also offered a much brighter appraisal of the battle there than the Iraqi assessment that it has “stalled.” “Offensive operations like this have a rhythm to them. After a fairly significant movement that we’ve seen our friendly forces execute, there’s always going to be a requirement to regenerate combat power, to consolidate and reorganize, before the next phase,” he said, emphasizing such “friendly” forces do not include Iranian fighters. But no previous experience can fully prepare the U.S. for this fight. As officers who have fought in the region say, if you think you understand the complexities of ethnic tensions there, rest assured that you don’t. This time, the expeditionary arms of Iran’s theocracy have emerged from the shadows. Operatives such as the elusive Gen. Qassim Suleimani, commander of the zealous Quds Force, and others from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps have for decades operated subversively, building clandestine armies in places like Lebanon and Syria. Now, they publicly admit they advise and assist the Iraqi army and the precarious Shiite militias. “The Iraqi government has requested them to be present in order to help the commanders,” explains Seyed Hossein Mousavian, a former Iranian nuclear negotiator, now a visiting fellow

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at Princeton. “Whenever they demand Iranian military forces to be present in Iraq, there is no objection from the Iranian side.” Mousavian says Iran is likely ready to cooperate with the U.S. also in fighting terrorism, in the form of the Islamic State group, its previous patron al-Qaida, or other networks still operating in Syria like Jabhat al-Nusra. But the U.S. must first understand what he describes as Iran’s “legitimate interests” in the stability of Iraq, with which it shares an almost 1,000-mile border. The recognition of Iran’s national security concerns could be part of why the U.S. has accepted Tehran’s involvement in Iraq, says J. Matthew McInnis, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who specializes in Iran. “We’re more consciously allowing Iranian activity in an area of our own national interest in a way that we would have resisted much more in the past,” McInnis says. “At the same time, I think part of it is reality that it’s impossible not to have Iran involved in this situation given that ISIS was actually threatening their own borders, so any nation’s going to take a certain degree of action for self-defense purposes.” Under the White House plan, the U.S. wants to be the chief backer of an Arab coalition working to defeat the Islamic State group, but not leading it from the front. Obama wants few, if any, U.S. troops on the ground, but acknowledges some form of ground forces are the only way to ultimately defeat the Islamic State group. The Iraqi military, however, is not yet up to the task, Dempsey recently admitted. “As this battle goes on, it’s clear we want to own the battle, but we don’t want to be in it,” says William Luers, director of the nongovernmental organization The Iran Project and a former senior State Department official. “The Iranians, I think, understood early on that by them being overtly involved, it would make this much more of an ethnic war, a secular war, a religious war, than if they laid back. But they realized that laying back is not what’s needed right now,” he says. “If our only ground option depends on getting the Iraqi military ready, this may be a long, long battle. The fact that the Shiite militias, with some Quds Force assistance, seems to be increasing the pace on Tikrit, and may do so on Mosul, it becomes less of an American war.” These militias’ style of fighting also differs inherently from how the U.S. taught the Iraqi military to wage war. Militias by definition are not disciplined, regular forces, says former Army Lt. Gen. Daniel Bolger, who led the U.S. training effort in Iraq from 2005 to 2006. “These are a bunch of guys in pickup trucks chasing another bunch of guys in pickup trucks around. This is the way people over there prefer to fight,” he says. Iran – like America – has demonstrated repeatedly its willingness to involve itself in Iraq’s affairs. Its influence is largely attributed to bolstering fellow Shiite Muslims, like notoriously polarizing former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. But Shiites in Iran, and more recently in Iraq, share mutual and deep distrust for Iraq’s Sunni Muslim population, following decades of wars that each side views at least in part as an attack on the other’s ethnic sect. The question now is precisely how loyal any Iraqi, but particularly Shiites, have become to the Iranian government. Despite shared religion, Iraqi Shiites are still Arabs and traditionally distrust their Persian counterparts. Iran’s interest in Iraq stems from its historic clashes with Sunni Muslims, including Saddam Hussein, who began a bloody eight-year war between the two nations in 1980. Further meddling could break Iraq along sectarian lines, creating fissures that could not be mended and solidifying power among Shiite allies of Iran, strengthening the influence of the Islamic republic in the region and supplanting America’s patronage.

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“The argument can be made that we actually enabled the Iranian military by simply being absent, not militarily in this campaign, but everything that led up to it,” Crocker says. “We have not been engaged politically at a high level. But the Iranians have, politically and militarily.” Amid the proven threat of persecution, none of Iraq’s ethnic groups can afford to be selective about whose help they accept. “Certainly some Sunni Arabs from the region are supporting this Iranian-led offensive, because they’d ally with the devil if it gets them their land back,” Crocker adds. “Where it gets really interesting, of course, is what happens afterward.” The Shiite militias, too, have wrought havoc in Iraq, most recently during the last U.S.-led war, and they were likely incensed by the Islamic State group’s slaughter of Shiites during its initial run on Baghdad last summer. America and its allies now wait to see whether they allow Sunni families to move back into their homes and help restore basic services there, or alternatively, as Dempsey said, provoke “atrocities and retribution.” “I’m concerned about what happens after the drums stop beating and ISIL is defeated,” Dempsey told Congress last week. “The Tikrit operation will be a strategic inflection point, one way or the other, in terms of easing our concerns – or increasing them.” Preliminary reports indicate these ethnically aligned militias “are settling scores like they always do,” says Bolger. The retired general describes a “militia warlord” mentality among these fighters, who enter enemy territory with a list of names and start killing people. Iran is likely content to allow the U.S. to squirm under international sectarian pressure, while its operatives maintain headline space and continue to win regional hearts and minds. But it wouldn’t have to remain as such. Perhaps ironically, the U.S. successfully defeated al-Qaida in Iraq (the Islamic State group’s precursor) in part due to a strategy called the “Sunni awakening,” in which top generals succeeded in convincing Sunni tribal leaders to join the new U.S.-backed coalition government. A similar approach today could help ensure Iran and its proxies do not emerge as the sole victor. Any solution begins with the latest operation. “Tikrit is the litmus test,” says Sajjan Gohel, an expert on Islamic extremism with the London-based Asia-Pacific Foundation. “How well trained is the Iraqi army in carrying out this operation? How balanced is the equation between the Iraqi army and the Shiite militias? And, effectively, how long is the whole process going to take?” “However long it takes in Tikrit, Mosul is going to take substantially longer,” Gohel says.

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Whether politically, militarily or even rhetorically, the question remains: Will the U.S. get more involved? Or will Iran? Teresa Welsh contributed to this report.

TEHRAN (FNA March 20)- Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian underlined victory of the Syrian people over the terrorist groups, and underlined that President Bashar al-Assad has played an essential role in this regard. “President Assad plays an undeniable role in maintaining national solidarity and fighting against terrorism,” Amirabdollahian told the state-run news agency on Wednesday. Reiterating Tehran’s support for the “patience and understanding people” of Syria, the Iranian diplomat said, “Terrorism was defeated in Syria and is now approaching its imminent end." He stressed that Tehran was proud that it had been standing by the Syrian nation and “preventing Syria from becoming another Somalia or Libya”. In relevant remarks on Wednesday, Amir Abdollahian stressed that Syria was one of the most important battlefronts of war on terrorism and extremism, reiterating Tehran's full support for Damascus to root out insurgency from the Muslim country's soil. Amir Abdollahian told the state-run TV that Tehran would keep supporting the people of Syria, and noted that the security of the region was intertwined with the security of Syria whose security was of significant importance to Iran and all other countries of the region. Syrian has been engaged in foreign-backed insurgency since 2011 when militants from foreign countries flocked to Syria to topple legal government of President al-Assad. Based on recent statistics over 210,000 people have been killed during clashes between terrorists and Syrian troops and millions have been displaced inside and outside of Syria.

WND EXCLUSIVE Secret Iranian handbook calls for EMP attack on America

20 March, General: 'We are ready for decisive battle against the U.S., Zionist regime'WASHINGTON – A “secret” Iranian military handbook, American officials say, confirms that the Islamic Republic of Iran is including in its arsenal a plan to launch a nuclear electromagnetic pulse attack on the American national grid system. To carry out such an attack, from a high-altitude nuclear blast, would require Iran to have not only the missiles to launch such a device but also the technology to produce a nuclear explosion.The revelation comes as the United States, along with the P5+1 countries that comprise the United Nations Security Council, is about to finalize negotiations over Iran’s nuclear development program. There have been concerns raised that Iran still has the intention of making nuclear bombs using the technology in that program, and the negotiations may not do enough to prevent it. The P5+1 countries – Great Britain, France, the United States, Russia and China plus Germany – have sought restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program to prevent that country from turning a program that reportedly is for medical and power production into a bomb factory.Peter Vincent Pry, who is executive di rector of a congressional advisory group called the Task Force on National and Homeland Security, raised the alarm as the agreement is about to be finalized.He said U.S. military officials have confirmed such an Iranian plan. “Iranian military documents describe such a scenario – including a recently translated Iranian military textbook that endorses nuclear EMP attack against the United States,” Pry wrote in a recent column in Israel’s main online media network, Aruz Sheva. “Iran with a small number of nuclear missiles can by EMP attack threaten the existence of modernity and be the death knell of Western principles of international law, humanism and freedom,” he said. “For the first time in history, a failed state like Iran could destroy the most successful societies on Earth and convert an evolving benign world order into world chaos.”

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WND could not immediately independently confirm the military documents cited by Pry.The revelation comes as Israel has just re-elected Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister. He recently warned a joint session of Congress about reaching any nuclear agreement with Iran.According to sources, the textbook refers to an EMP attack on some 20 locations in the United States. Pry pointed out that Iran, in fact, would not need an intercontinental missile to launch a high-altitude EMP attack that could knock out the U.S. national grid system and the other life-sustaining critical infrastructures that depend on the grid to function. He said Iran could deliver a nuclear attack from a ship just off the U.S. East Coast either by a missile or by launching into orbit around the Earth a satellite which, in effect, would be a nuclear device.Critical infrastructures that depend on the already vulnerable U.S. national grid system include communications, water and food delivery systems, financial and banking systems, transportation, regulation of the nearly million miles of oil and natural gas pipelines that traverse the U.S. and the myriad of modern conveniences that function by automated control systems that often are located in remote areas of the country.Pry said it would cost only about $2 billion to harden the grid from such an attack or a direct hit from solar flares – which could produce similar damage and is occurring now. He added that protection of the grid could include the installation of devices like geomagnetically induced current, or GICs, blockers.Pry’s warning about the Iranian military textbook coincided with a threat from Gen. Hassan Firouzabad, the Iranian armed forces chief of staff. “We are ready for the decisive battle against the U.S. and the Zionist regime,” Firouzabad recently told the Iranian Fars News Agency. “Iran armed with nuclear missiles poses an unprecedented threat to global civilization,” Pry said.One nuclear warhead detonated at high-altitude over the United States would black out the national electric grid and other life-sustaining critical infrastructures for months or years by means of an electromagnetic pulse, Pry said. He said the chaos could result in the deaths of 90 percent of the American population. Such an attack would not be exclusive to the United States.Dr. Emily Landau, director of the Arms Control and Regional Security Program at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, said Iran also could target Israel. Landau, who is an expert on Iran’s nuclear program, said Iran could very well be planning an EMP attack on Israel, based on statements from high-level Iranian officials. She said Iran already has the

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missiles but only needs the nuclear device to launch an EMP that would be capable of destroying Israel’s electrical grid. “Iran doesn’t have a nuclear bomb yet, and hopefully it won’t have one, but if it does manage to build a bomb, an EMP attack is a real possibility,” Landau said. Pry went so far as to say Iran is actively preparing for an EMP attack.Tehran has undertaken offshore exercises using Scud missiles fired and positioned in such a way that they exploded in the atmosphere, exactly the method you would use for an EMP attack, he said. “(Iran) could even marshal a major Islamic invasion of Israel, massacring the Jews and ushering in the era of the 12th imam, the Islamic messiah, whose arrival Iran’s leadership believes is imminent,” Pry said.

C; Video: IRGC Navy Commander Ali Fadavi Presents New "Strategic" Weapon and Says: We Have Deterred America , http://www.memri.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4812.htm

Will Qasem Soleimani enter politics?

Author: Arash Karami Posted March 19, 2015 Qasem Soleimani is now known to many who follow Middle Eastern affairs. The commander of Iran’s Quds Force, the division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) responsible for Iran’s files outside of its borders, has been everywhere in both Western and regional media the last couple of years. Pictures of Soleimani inside Iraq alongside Iraqi forces and Shiite militias have become ubiquitous since June 2014 when the Sunni extremist group Islamic State (IS) took over parts of Iraq. On the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA), Zahra Asghari took a closer look at the man who competed head to head in polls for Iran’s Person of the Year with the popular nuclear negotiator Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Asghari wrote that when pictures of Soleimani in Iraq first appeared on social media, ISNA chose not to republish the pictures assuming that the images were accidentally leaked online. But as more images of Soleimani appeared in Iraq, on the front line among Iraqi forces and

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leaders, it became clear the pictures were being released intentionally. Asghari wrote that while a number of IRGC commanders are advising the Iraqi forces and the Popular Mobilization Units fighting IS, it is clear that Soleimani’s role goes beyond that. Asghari continued that the pictures of Soleimani across various provinces in Iraq have raised questions domestically, regionally and internationally. And since there seems to be no desire by Iranian officials to answer these questions, it has only fueled more rumors and speculation.

Despite Soleimani being the head of the Quds Force, before June 2014, there were few pictures, videos or speeches available of him to the point that Asghari wrote that before this point “interviewing him or writing a report about him was not possible for Iranian media.” Interestingly, even in this long profile of Soleimani, none of the sources Asghari interviewed were willing to speak on the record. The sources of course all had high praise for Soleimani, telling Asghari that they believe that the only other figure who has the same attributes and success record as Soleimani is Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. Despite the popularity of his pictures in Iraq, Asghari noted that Soleimani pictures in Tehran, at the funeral of commanders and fighters killed in Syria and Iraq, or at IRGC ceremonies, have become popular as well. Asghari also wrote that Soleimani was at a funeral ceremony for Jihad Mughniyeh, son of former Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh who was assassinated in 2008 by Israeli and US intelligence. Jihad was killed by an Israel strike in the Golan Heights in January 2015. The article says that Jihad was the nephew of Soleimani. Though it’s not confirmed anywhere else, Iranian media before have reported that Imad Mughniyeh was married to Soleimani’s sister. The central question that Asghari asks is: “Has the 59-year-old unrivaled commander of the battlefield outside of Iran’s borders ever thought about the world of politics?” Asghari, naturally, does not have an exact answer, but she has ideas. When a source close to Soleimani was asked about claims that Soleimani is “Iran’s foreign minister in the region,” he responded “the stature of Soleimani is higher than that of a foreign minister.” The source continued that Soleimani “is not a partisan” figure and that his experiences in the Balkans, the Middle East and eastern Iran have made him a “military specialist.” Asghari wrote that “despite access to precise information, the pictures of Soleimani speak for themselves.” The article argued that in none of the pictures of Soleimani in Iraq was he wearing an IRGC uniform or even an Iraqi uniform and is not even wearing military boots, suggesting that the pictures reveal desires for a nonmilitary role. It’s impossible to know what Soleimani’s next steps are. At the moment, the commander who appears to prefer to spend his time in the trenches at the front line in Iraq may not be tempted by the monotony and bureaucracy that comes with public office. But given his popularity and closeness to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Soleimani has a wide range of options.

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