Iranian Threats, Trump Refuses to Back Down, and More

The Daily Mail has reported that the Iran has not only put an $80 million bounty on Pres. Trump's head, but that an Iranian presidential adviser has indicated that targets of potential Iranian terrorist attacks will include properties owned by Trump's real estate companies, including Mar-a-Lago. However, Al-Monitor, which provides Middle-East news and opinion, believes that "Top commander's assassination leaves Iran with very few options to retaliate." The author of that piece notes that the location of the attack, killing an Iranian general inside Iraq, and without any civilian casualties, has greatly tempered any potential public anger over the attack. Also:

       Iran's Supreme National Security Council had its special meeting about the incident, which was led by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for the first time. The council announced after the meeting that “Iran will take revenge at the suitable time and place,” which indicates Iran is not willing to escalate in the near future.

       In fact, the economic hardship in Iran — in addition to the challenges the government is facing internally — would not allow Tehran to increase the tension. Iran’s past conduct against Israel strikes on Iranian bases in Syria also shows it will not seek revenge if its national security and interests are in danger.

       From the US side, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called for reducing the escalation, saying, “I reiterated our commitment to de-escalation.” US President Donald Trump also indicated that Iran should take up negotiation instead of confrontation, tweeting, “Iran never won a war, but never lost a negotiation!”

      This all indicates that Iran and its proxies in the region most likely would not seek revenge in the near future and — in regard to Iraq, in particular — would not lead Iraq to fall into a civil war or mass destruction, because it would lose even more in Iraq if it takes such a risk. 

      Iran is also very unlikely to push its Iraqi political forces to go ahead with legislation asking US troops to leave the country, as this would raise strong objections from Kurdish and Sunni forces and push them to work for separation. Iran would be the first party affected by such a dangerous move. 

      Meanwhile, true to form on protecting the country's enemies, Congressional Democrats have proposed "a War Powers Resolution this week to limit Donald Trump's ability to take military action following the attack that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani." Vox Day notes a Washington Post article that indicates that the decision to order the missile strike took even Trump's military advisers by surprise. According to the article, the option of killing Suleimani was given as an extreme option in order to make other options seem more palatable. The President initially was wanting to use a more moderate decision, but changed his mind after the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq.

    The President has also received push back on his refusal to rule out striking "heritage" sites in retaliation for further military or terrorist action by Iran. According to one source, Trump's response was: "They’re allowed to kill our people. They’re allowed to torture and maim our people. they’re allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up our people. And we’re not allowed to touch their cultural site? It doesn’t work that way."

     For those of you interested in end-times prophecy, I don't think that what is going on now is of particular significance, but falls under the "wars and rumors of war" category.