Paranoia?
I’m fairly certain I’m not the first person you’ve ever heard claim that the Iranian regime is paranoid to the nth degree. Politicians are terrified of religious leaders, religious leaders distrust the politicians; and half are both and both are half. Add that to the fact that the whole of the regime trades on fear – internationally and domestically – and you have an imperfect storm of paranoia mixed with rational concern that someone make actually take a generation of “fighting words” seriously.
It seems that in the wake of recent unexplained setbacks – also known as massive explosions that wiped at least one facility off the map and the seizure/capture/retrieval of an American “stealth drone” on Afghani Iranian soil – the Iranian regime has moved from paranoia to preparation.
TELEGRAPH UK: An order from Gen Mohammed Ali Jaafari, the commander of the guards, raised the operational readiness status of the country’s forces, initiating preparations for potential external strikes and covert attacks.
Western intelligence officials said the Islamic Republic had initiated plans to disperse long-range missiles, high explosives, artillery and guards units to key defensive positions.
The order was given in response to the mounting international pressure over Iran’s nuclear programme. Preparation for a confrontation has gathered pace following last month’s report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna that produced evidence that Iran was actively working to produce nuclear weapons.
The Iranian leadership fears the country is being subjected to a carefully co-ordinated attack by Western intelligence and security agencies to destroy key elements of its nuclear infrastructure.
Recent explosions have added to the growing sense of paranoia within Iran, with the regime fearing it will be the target of a surprise military strike by Israel or the US.
The “explosions” referenced above reportedly led to the death of 17 Iranians and the founder of their ballistic missile program, Gen. Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam. Oh, and like I said, they also helped wipe an entire military installation off the map.
In interviews, current and former officials said surveillance photos showed that the Iranian base was a central testing center for advanced solid-fuel missiles, an assessment backed by outside experts who have examined satellite photos showing that the base was almost completely leveled in the blast. Such missiles can be launched almost instantly, making them useful to Iran as a potential deterrent against pre-emptive attacks by Israel or the United States, and they are also better suited than older liquid-fuel designs for carrying warheads long distances.
Both American and Israeli officials, in discussing the explosion in recent days, showed little curiosity about its cause. “Anything that buys us time and delays the day when the Iranians might be able to mount a nuclear weapon on an accurate missile is a small victory,” one Western intelligence official who has been deeply involved in countering the Iranian nuclear program said this weekend. “At this point, we’ll take whatever we can get, however it happens.”
Sounds like “We” are playing the whole must have been an accident card. That’s one heck of a convenient “accident.”
Here we are sitting around hoping on hope that we can somehow slow Iranian nuclear development; with a president that seems either unwilling or disinterested; and accidental explosion just happens as a product of chance / Iranian incompetence?
Yeah… probably not.
“It looks like the 21st century form of war,” said Patrick Clawson, who directs the Iran Security Initiative at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a Washington think tank. “It does appear that there is a campaign of assassinations and cyber war, as well as the semi-acknowledged campaign of sabotage.”
I’m not one to sit and ponder the “What we were in Iran’s shoes” questions – because “we” are not Iran and “we” have never threatened to wipe an entire country off the map just for shits and giggles. That said, I can say with at least a degree of certainty that if I was an Iranian, this would either make me somewhat proud or really really really scare the hell out of me.
“Outdated”, perhaps. But it’s still reportedly the same drone the CIA and the White House used to spy on the bin Laden compound. It may be old tech, but it’s still pretty high tech if it was the tool of choice for capturing images of the Most Wanted dude on the planet.
“We” may not be directly responsible for the “explosions”; but I think it’s pretty safe to say we probably at least know who was.
[...] that super-top secret stealth drone that was “reportedly recovered” on Iranian soil? You know, the one that everyone with [...]