Netanyahu is terrorized. Spooked. He knows Iran will retaliate and is certain it will be today via rockets and bombs. While there is no doubt Iran will do ‘something’ it may not materialize in a manner that is expected. Netanyahu’s strategy is carpet bomb everyone, including his own citizens. That’s all he knows. And he’s good at it. But whatever Iran’s Imam Khamenei does, he is considering his people first and has no desire for Israel to make rubbish of his country as it has of Palestine. An ideology unfamiliar to Netanyahu who has now closed 18 embassies in fear.
Israel has declined to comment on the attack other than to state that ALL strikes are defensive…
The US immediately contacted Iran after Israel’s bombing in Damascus and asked ‘pretty please’ don’t attack anything US in your retaliatory strikes, because we didn’t know Israel’s plan. Of course, the same US denied the CIA and Special ops were in Ukraine – so their honesty is relatively twalette water. In addition, the US is not ready for a war and ego supersedes strategy – For now Israel is sweating. The US is sweating. And Iran is likely in talks with Russia as to how to proceed.
Iran’s strategy must be unconventional. One thought is to close the Strait of Hormuz. A third of the world’s liquified natural gas and almost 25% of total global oil passes through the strait, making it a highly important strategic location for international trade. To traverse the Strait ships pass through territorial waters of Iran.
The Strait is governed by the UN Convention on The Law of The Sea to which the US and Israel are NOT a party. While Iran is a party, it holds to the premise that it has no obligations toward ‘nonparties’. Thereby, Iran can close the Strait to all shipping in and out by Israel and the US, which includes oil and gas, while not disturbing other ratified nations. Like a Sanction.
Today, the US has 3,551 sanctions in place against Russia. A sanction is much like a parent grounding a child ‘you are prohibited from seeing everyone’. Personally, I always thought grounding was inane – because the parent was also thus grounded. I preferred manual labor. Despite the vast number of sanctions imposed on Russia, they have had little effect on their economy. But Russia isn’t alone in the parental grounding – America has current sanctions imposed against 23 countries, some as old as 1996.
According to the Rothschild Economist, which rules the roost, sanctions don’t work and often backfire. In 2012 Obama sanctioned Iran. Iran’s economy crashed. Two years later Rouhaini signed a nonproliferation agreement on nukes. How viable is that agreement? Well, the US has negated Treaty Agreements, such as the Minsk Agreement, thereby making all treaties rather useless.
Honor has been usurped by the same countries demanding honor.
Sanctioning the US would have tremendous economic impacts. Oil and gas have power. YTD oil has risen 23%.
The US Navy Fifth Fleet operates in the Red Sea, Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea. While military vessels have the right to sail through the Strait of Hormuz, they cannot use military force during the passage – not even to protect their own ships. This is regulated by the UN Charter. But the US is rogue under the Biden Handlers, laws are no longer abided by, contracts are burned, and rationale is questionable.
At issue is the fact that Israel seems to desire WWIII and doesn’t care which country is defaced. Which is why Iran is enjoying the ‘sweat’. Patience is not the virtue of either Israel or America.
While Kirby postures the Iran statement as a ‘threat to the state of Israel’, he fails to acknowledge that Israel ran rogue and killed 11 high ranking officials in Damascus while inside an embassy that is typically considered and provided diplomatic immunity. A breech that puts all embassies at risk. Again – precedent. This is the unfortunate consequence of rogueness. All of which stems from Israel’s aggressive annihilation of Palestinians in violation of every International Law!
Every media foundation is parlaying their “Breaking News” wherein US intel has told them that Iran will attack Israel after Ramadan via ballistic missiles and drones. The fact that ‘strategy’ is normally based on the element of surprise – this would appear to be a counter to that supposed Iranian threat.
What qualifies a group as a ‘terrorist organization’? “Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of intentional violence and fear to achieve political or ideological aims.” There are 77 organizations labeled a terrorist organization. Oddly, the CIA is not listed.
Does This Qualify: Israel is arming Azerbaijan to ethnically cleanse Armenian Christians, while the US is sending $65 million to aid the Armenians on the other side?