Thundering Vengeance Awaiting Perpetrators of Violence and Wars

By: Kayhan Int’l

Terrorism robs the terrorists, whether state or non-state actors, of commonsense by making them embark on a policy of crimes against humanity, which sooner or later is bound to boomerang with such a thundering vengeance that the perpetrators of violence and wars who try to destabilize indomitable and principally righteous nations, vanish forever from the world scene.

For any conscientious reader of history this has been the fate of terroristic cults and of terroristic empires that are no more today. This means, the modern day terrorists, whether the non-state actors indulging in macabrely murderous methods or the super terrorist states which manufacture weapons of mass massacre, are only a passing phase in the history of mankind, before they are wiped out like cobwebs. 

This was the gist of the interview aired by al-Manar TV on Friday with the Head of Lebanon’s legendry anti-terrorist movement, the Hezbollah.

Seyyed Hassan Nasrollah’s words showed the political prudence of a venerable religious personality and were prophetic. They were a remarkably accurate analysis of the situation in the region, which is threatened by both the Zionist implant called Israel, and the intruding American forces that have no right to meddle in this part of the world.

As a matter of fact, the interview of the Master of Resistance ought to serve as a warning to all mischief-makers and warmongers against playing with fire, since one wrong move and they would be burned to nothingness.

It, however, doesn’t mean that we want either Israel or the US to take heed of our warnings and survive for continuing their evil ways. No certainly not, we do like to see them evaporate as if they didn’t exist at all, and this would definitely happen as per God’s Promise which will materialize sooner or later.

In the meantime, we are fully prepared to face any misadventure by these devilish forces, as the Leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah said in his interview: "If the US is foolish enough to ignite the flames of war in the region, Israel will be wiped out from the map of the Levant”.

Seyyed Hassan Nasrollah, as all observers and analysts acknowledge, neither indulges in wishful thinking nor does he exaggerate anything, as is evident by his words and actions of the past twenty years since Israel was driven out of southern Lebanon in 2000, and then the myth of its invincibility was shattered beyond repair during the 33-day war it imposed on Lebanon in 2006.

The Master of Resistance even displayed a map of Occupied Palestine and pinpointed with precision where the Hezbollah missiles will zero-in on the military and industrial targets by piercing the so-called iron dome of the enemy, since the "Zionist regime is weaker than a spider’s web”.

And in case, the charlatan Benjamin Netanyahu were to translate his terroristic threat of using the US supplied F-35 aircraft to bomb the Islamic Republic, "Iran has the ability to bombard Israel with such ferocity and force” that will bring down the curtain upon Israel – as predicted by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

The Head of Lebanon’s Hezbollah was quick to note that "when the US realizes that any war could wipe out Israel, it will indeed reconsider any hostile move”. 

He dismissed as sheer lie, Trump’s claim that loss of Iranian civilian life made him revoke his alleged order for attack, saying the US president had been warned by Iran through third parties of the Islamic Republic’s resolve to destroy all US bases and forces within reach of Iranian missiles, the moment the CENTCOM terrorists made any wrong move.

He said the collective responsibility of all should be to work towards preventing any war, because Islam hates bloodshed and destruction.

It was thus heartening to note that on Friday, the US House of Representatives voted to restrict President Donald Trump’s ability to wage war, voicing fear that his hawkish policies are pushing towards a needless military conflict with Iran, the consequences of which would be devastating for American military and economy.

As for Iran’s presence in Syria, it is at the invitation of the legal government of President Bashar al-Assad, and whether Netanyahu or the US like it or not, Iran will not leave Syria in its crucial reconstruction phase after having helped the country to crush the terrorist groups which intended to create a ‘Takfiristan’ stretching from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea to the headwaters of the Persian Gulf at the southern tip of Iraq.

Seyyed Nasrollah’s interview which marked the 13th anniversary of the start of the 33-day Israeli war, showed his full confidence of victory in any upcoming war with the Zionist entity. He said: "I’m certain of victory; God is with us.” 

Asked if he believes the liberation of Palestine will be achieved by the present generation or the next, he answered with remarkable clarity of vision: "It is all in the Hand of Allah, but based on logic, I have big hope that we will pray in al-Quds,” which means we will see in our lifetime the end of US/Zionist terrorism.

Pompeo, the U.S. and Iran

by ROBERT FANTINA

The United States’ international windbag, Secretary of Defense (read: War) Mike Pompeo has been acting the imperial blowhard throughout the Middle East. With his boss busy denying that he’s a Russian agent, watching advisors and cabinet members come and go with dizzying alacrity, and dodging porn-star accusations, Pompeo is trotting through the Middle East, sounding war drums.

It seems that Iran, which has long been in the crosshairs of U.S. gunboat ‘diplomacy’, remains firmly targeted. In Cairo, Pompeo promised a “…campaign to stop Iran’s malevolent influence and actions against this region and the world”.

It is with a firm shake of the head that this writer reads such statements, wondering how anyone with even a modicum of intelligence can take such pronouncements seriously. If one is to discuss ‘malevolent influence and actions against this region and the world’, shouldn’t one look, first and foremost, at the United States?

The U.S. currently gives unqualified support to Saudi Arabia, which is decimating the nation of Yemen. Currently, at least 10,000,000 Yemenis, most of them children, are at risk of death by starvation due to the U.S.-supported Saudi onslaught. Several weeks ago, the Saudis dropped a U.S.-made bomb on what they must have thought was a horrifying terrorist group: a school bus full of 10-year-old children. U.S. spokespeople had hardly a word to say about this. Not surprising: if 10,000,000 people at risk of starvation brings no halt to U.S. support of Saudi Arabia, what is one school bus full of little boys? Does none of this qualify as ‘malevolent influence and actions’?

When discussing the U.S.’s ‘malevolent influence and actions’, it is impossible not to mention  its support of apartheid Israel’s brutal, inhumane and totally illegal (under international law: remember that old thing?) treatment of the Palestinians. Home demolitions to make room for Israeli-only housing; road construction on which only Israelis can drive (and if such a road intersects an existing Palestinian road, Palestinians cannot cross the intersection); the murders of innocent men, women and children by IDF soldiers and illegal settlers; the complete occupation of the Gaza Strip, with Israel forbidding the import of many basic needs, and the export of almost anything, crippling the economy; the periodic carpet-bombing of the Gaza Strip, with homes, mosques, United Nations refugee centers, hospitals and schools all targeted, all in violation of international law; the brutal harassment of Palestinians who only want to worship at Al Aqsa mosque, to name just a few of Israel’s constant atrocities. The U.S. responds to all this by giving Israel $4 billion in aid every year, more than all other nations receive from the U.S. combined. Is there nothing here that can be considered ‘malevolent influence and actions’?

For years, the United States supported rebel groups that fought for the overthrow of the Syrian government. It provided training and weapons to known terrorist groups, resulting in the death of at least half a million Syrians. With assistance from its allies Russia and Iran, Syria has been able to rid itself of most of these terrorists. Is U.S. financing and training of terrorist organizations not ‘malevolent influence and actions’?

For eighteen years, up to and including today, the U.S. has decimated and occupied Afghanistan, resulting in the deaths of thousands of Afghanis, and the destruction of the country. There is no end of this carnage in site. The reason for the invasion, ostensibly, was to capture Osama bin Laden, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks on the U.S. Yet bin Laden has been dead for years, but the war rages on. The U.S. is determined to install a puppet government there, but the Taliban only came to power with U.S. support, when Russia was at war with Afghanistan. So the U.S. created the monster it is now fighting. Additionally, the Taliban was willing to surrender bin Laden to any nation other than the United States; he would easily and quickly have been extradited from that nation to the U.S. for trial. But an endless war seemed more appealing to the U.S. government. This all certainly sounds like ‘malevolent influence and actions’ to this writer.

The United States overthrew the functioning government of Libya, leaving that nation as a ‘failed state’. Today, there is no peace in Libya, poverty is rampant, and the country is divided by differing factions that are at constant war with each other. ‘Malevolent influence and actions’, anyone?

And despite all this, pompous Pompeo parades through the Middle East, condemning a nation that hasn’t invaded another country in over 200 years. Compare this to the more than 30 nations the United States has invaded and/or destabilized in just the last 50 years. Those imperial U.S. intrusions have killed an estimated 20,000,000 people, and the slaughter continues today, with no end in sight.

This is not a phenomena of the current incompetent, bombastic buffoon residing in the White House, or the result of the (until recently) Republican-controlled Congress. For generations, there have been few elected U.S. officials who ever met a war they didn’t love; rarely has there been a covert operation to overthrow a democratically-elected government that both Republicans and Democrats didn’t fully support. No, all this is business as usual for the globe’s most dangerous thug, which, were it an individual, would have long ago been found guilty of mass murder.

What is to be done? What can or will a mainly-ignorant public do, when most of its members prefer to wave a flag than look at reality? Like other imperial nations throughout history, the U.S. will eventually implode under the weight of its own ‘malevolent influence and actions’. It is hard to imagine any other nation emerging as the world’s superpower that will cause as much death, destruction and suffering as the U.S. has during its long and bloody history. The end of its reign of terror cannot come soon enough.

U.S. propaganda war against Iran doomed to fail

By Syed Zafar Mehdi

TEHRAN _ At a time when the Trump administration is facing backlash at home over its military support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen and disgraceful defeat in Afghanistan after 18 years of war, spin doctors in Washington are looking for convenient scapegoats to escape accountability.

Last week, five human rights watchdog bodies issued a terse statement, saying the U.S. will bear shared responsibility for what may be the largest humanitarian catastrophe in decades if it doesn't end support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. Ironically, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s brutal murder has brought the spotlight on Saudi regime’s war crimes in Yemen.

In Afghanistan, the U.S. imposed war, which has stretched into its 18th year now, has turned out to be an exercise in futility. Even the top-notch U.S. officials have admitted defeat there, thereby emboldening terrorist groups like Taliban and ISIS to up the ante.  

Amidst this hullabaloo, the ‘astute’ advisors of Trump have come up with an innovative ‘idea’ to escape culpability for Yemen and Afghanistan. Only that this idea doesn’t seem to work.

A few days ago, Pentagon unveiled what it called “new evidence of Iran’s ongoing missile proliferation”, claiming that Tehran’s support of Houthi rebels in Yemen has “deepened” and it has been providing “materiel support” to the Taliban in Afghanistan.

A select group of journalists were invited for a briefing in Washington by Brian Hook, U.S. special representative for Iran. Hook began by saying that the U.S. deeply valued its “partnership with the UAE, Bahrain and Israel”. That is how the agenda was set for the briefing.

UAE is an integral part of the Saudi-led alliance that has wreaked havoc in Yemen, with the U.S. support. Bahrain, where Al-Khalifa regime has been committing horrendous war crimes, is home to the American Fifth Fleet. Israel, a key U.S. ally, has been illegally occupying the Palestinian territories and brutalizing native Palestinians.

After the initial round of lavish praise for these three regimes, with terrible human rights record, Hook spoke about the imaginary ‘dangers’ posed by Iran’s ‘dangerous proliferation of missiles across the Middle East’. The agenda was clear: to spread misinformation against the Islamic Republic, which dares to say ‘no’ to the ‘Big Satan’ and all its allies, including these three regimes.

He conveniently forgot that his country’s commitment under Article VI of Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to work towards total disarmament has turned out to be hogwash. He forgot that U.S. ally Israel has refused to open its nuclear facilities for UN inspections and refused to adhere with the resolution regarding non-proliferation.

Displaying pieces of what he said were ‘Iranian weapons supplied to militants in Yemen and Afghanistan’, a tried-and-tested ploy to intimidate Iran, Hook accused the Houthis’ of ‘reckless use of advanced weapons provided by Iran’.

He didn’t mention the billion dollar arms deal between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, the same arms being used to slaughter Yemenis. He didn’t talk about the blockade of aid supplies triggering world’s worst humanitarian crisis with thousands of deaths over the past three years and more than 22 million people in need of assistance.

Iran, he said, has ‘no legitimate interest’ in Yemen, other than to ‘expand its sphere of influence and to create a Shia corridor of control’. So, what interest does the Saudi regime have in Yemen and what interest does the U.S. government have in supplying arms to Riyadh.

Pertinently, the U.S. State Department had admitted in leaked cables that Houthis were not Iran's proxy and they received neither funding nor weapons from Iran. That’s what happens when you don’t do your homework well. Or maybe, ignorance is bliss.

He went on to accuse Iran of arming the Taliban, the same militant group that was on CIA’s payroll once. The same militant group that has been holding ‘secret parleys’ with the U.S. officials in Qatar. The same militant group the U.S. wants to keep alive to justify its occupation of the war-torn country.

Taliban spokesperson punctured his claim saying the militant group has weapons depots spread in various parts of Afghanistan. He said the U.S. government was just seeking to deflect global attention from its failures in Afghanistan by leveling such unfounded allegations.

As a reminder, on the afternoon of Oct. 7, 2001, when the U.S. and its allies started the deadly air raid in Afghanistan, Rumsfeld said the objective of the ‘campaign’ was to decimate the Taliban and al Qaeda hideouts in the country. As of today, the war has completed 17 years, consumed thousands of lives, and cost U.S. taxpayers more than $150 billion. All this without achieving the stated ‘objective’.

And it’s not Iran supplying weapons to the Taliban. It is the United States. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), a U.S. government watchdog body, in a report last year detailed the horrible job Pentagon does at keeping weapons that eventually end up in terrorist hands. And some of the weapons are from Soviet war days when Americans and Taliban were fighting together. Hook perhaps needs lessons in history.