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U.S. Sizing Up Iran?

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USA: drone strikes 1 Iranian General
Iran: Kills 110 Iranian civilians
USA: Okay, if that's how you want to play this...

Lest we forget.


1988 July 03
U.S. warship downs Iranian passenger jet
In the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy cruiser Vincennes shoots down an Iranian passenger jet that it mistakes for a hostile Iranian fighter aircraft. Two missiles were fired from the American warship–the aircraft was hit, and all 290 people aboard were killed. The attack came near the end of the Iran-Iraq War, when U.S. vessels were in the gulf defending Kuwaiti oil tankers. Minutes before Iran Air Flight 655 was shot down, the Vincennes had engaged Iranian gunboats that shot at its helicopter.
Iran called the downing of the aircraft a “barbaric massacre,” but U.S. officials defended the action, claiming that the aircraft was outside the commercial jet flight corridor, flying at only 7,800 feet, and was on a descent toward the Vincennes. However, one month later, U.S. authorities acknowledged that the airbus was in the commercial flight corridor, flying at 12,000 feet, and not descending. The U.S. Navy report blamed crew error caused by psychological stress on men who were in combat for the first time. In 1996, the U.S. agreed to pay $62 million in damages to the families of the Iranians killed in the attack.

Citation Information
Article Title
U.S. warship downs Iranian passenger jet
Author
History.com Editors
Website Name
HISTORY
URL
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/u-s-warship-downs-iranian-passenger-jet
Access Date
17 January 2020
Publisher
A&E Television Networks
Last Updated
July 17, 2019
Original Published Date
February 9, 2010
TagsIranAircraft
By
History.com Editors
 
USA: drone strikes 1 Iranian General
Iran: Kills 110 Iranian civilians
USA: Okay, if that's how you want to play this...

Lest we forget.


1988 July 03
U.S. warship downs Iranian passenger jet
In the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy cruiser Vincennes shoots down an Iranian passenger jet that it mistakes for a hostile Iranian fighter aircraft. Two missiles were fired from the American warship–the aircraft was hit, and all 290 people aboard were killed. The attack came near the end of the Iran-Iraq War, when U.S. vessels were in the gulf defending Kuwaiti oil tankers. Minutes before Iran Air Flight 655 was shot down, the Vincennes had engaged Iranian gunboats that shot at its helicopter.
Iran called the downing of the aircraft a “barbaric massacre,” but U.S. officials defended the action, claiming that the aircraft was outside the commercial jet flight corridor, flying at only 7,800 feet, and was on a descent toward the Vincennes. However, one month later, U.S. authorities acknowledged that the airbus was in the commercial flight corridor, flying at 12,000 feet, and not descending. The U.S. Navy report blamed crew error caused by psychological stress on men who were in combat for the first time. In 1996, the U.S. agreed to pay $62 million in damages to the families of the Iranians killed in the attack.

Citation Information
Article Title
U.S. warship downs Iranian passenger jet
Author
History.com Editors
Website Name
HISTORY
URL
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/u-s-warship-downs-iranian-passenger-jet
Access Date
17 January 2020
Publisher
A&E Television Networks
Last Updated
July 17, 2019
Original Published Date
February 9, 2010
TagsIranAircraft
By
History.com Editors

Whataboutery from 32 years ago. Really?
 
nt to play this...

Lest we forget.


1988 July 03
U.S. warship downs Iranian passenger jet
In the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy cruiser Vincennes shoots down an Iranian passenger jet that it mistakes for a hostile Iranian fighter aircraft.

Reading even Wikipedia’s account shows that this incident didn’t occur in a vacuum. The sections entitled “Radio Communications” and “Potential Factors” show that the crew of the USS Vincennes were under more stresses and constraints than simply those of combat.

maximus otter
 
Last edited:
I have never ever in my life considered pursuing a conspiracy theory, but so many parts of the recent US/Iran events make no strategic sense that based on 40 years in the organizational world it seems likely to me that it was arranged between the two countries. Suleimani was a charismatic star in Iran, had great influence in Iraq, and had good relations with all of those small terrorist and revolutionary groups in the region ( if only because he gave out the funding), and I believe the Iranian leaders were beginning to see him as a threat. The Executive branch needed something big to capture press attention away from its troubles. So an exchange of services was arranged. This is supported by the uselessness of the US action - predictably in Iran an assistant stepped up and continued the current policies within a day - and the strange reaction of the Iranians, who could blow up half the mideast if they wanted, but instead dropped a few missiles on a US airbase after the occupants received adequate warning, then called it a stupendous victory. The Pres got some alternate news, the Iranians posted a warning to over-ambition. Not that I don't think he had it coming, but so many do, and the pentagon had in the past been very concerned about an extreme Iranian reaction to any such action, which has yet to materialize. Of course the Iranians do play a long game.
 
It's good that Trump isn't trying to up the ante regarding the recent events but his attitude towards injured US troops is a tad bizarre.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday downplayed the injuries suffered by U.S. soldiers during Iran’s attack on a military base in Iraq earlier this month, suggesting he doesn’t consider traumatic brain injuries to be “very serious.”

Trump has said several times that no Americans were hurt when Iran launched a missile attack against Ain al-Asad air base on Jan. 8 in retaliation for U.S. forces killing Iran military leader Qasem Soleimani. But the Pentagon acknowledged last week that 11 U.S. soldiers required medical attention outside of Iraq as a result. Eight suffered concussion-like symptoms and three sought behavior-health treatment. ...

Susan Connors, president and CEO of the Brain Injury Association of America, said in a statement that her group was “disappointed” by Trump’s remarks.

“A brain injury changes the way you move, act, think, and feel ― it has the potential to change who you are at your core,” Connors said. “What could be more serious than that? As the nation’s oldest and largest brain injury advocacy organization, BIAA is disappointed in the President’s characterization of TBI as ‘just a headache’ and especially in his implication that those who sustain TBIs in service for their country are not suffering serious injuries.”

Watch Trump’s full news conference below. His remarks about the soldiers’ injuries begin around the 53-minute mark.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-shrugs-off-soldiers-injuries-iran-attack_n_5e284b30c5b6779e9c2b2081



https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-jr-mlk-day-tweet_n_5e26aac3c5b6321176189c34
 
President Donald Trump on Wednesday downplayed the injuries suffered by U.S. soldiers during Iran’s attack on a military base in Iraq earlier this month, suggesting he doesn’t consider traumatic brain injuries to be “very serious.”
Actually concussion often isn't that big a deal. I have been concussed a couple of times. I suspect most people have. The issue here is that we don't really know how bad the concussion the troops suffered actually was. We do know that nobody has died from it tho. Is it not in the news because it isn't an issue, or because it is? The question hangs unanswered. Even if they all died however, the USA would still be winning by a 10:1 kill ratio. Presently the score is USA 112:0.11 Iran.
 
The Pentagon confirms that soldiers suffered TBI.
.
The Pentagon has said that 34 US troops were diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) following an Iranian attack on their base in Iraq.

Seventeen troops are still under medical observation, a spokesman said.

President Donald Trump had said no Americans were injured in the 8 January strike, which came in retaliation for the US killing of an Iranian general. Mr Trump had cited the supposed lack of injuries in his decision not to strike back against Iran.

But last week, the Pentagon said 11 service members had been treated for concussion symptoms from the attack.

Asked about the apparent discrepancy this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mr Trump said: "I heard that they had headaches, and a couple of other things, but I would say, and I can report, it's not very serious."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51243888
 
T.B.I./Concussion can be extremely serious or of effectively negligible importance.

This report says that of the thirty-four affected:

Nine service members are still being treated in Germany. An additional eight service members who had been flown to Germany have since been sent to the United States for additional treatment. The eight service members, who arrived in the US Friday morning, will be treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center or at hospitals in their home bases.

Source:
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/24/politics/34-injuries-iran-missile-strike/index.html

From which we can deduce that seventeen were comparatively minor concussions, nine were moderately serious and eight were serious.

Whether or not the White House has the right tone is another matter, but this is a very light accounting (in military terms) for being 'caught' on the receiving end of a modern missile strike. It terms of operational effectiveness and political deterrent, the effect was zero.

The attacks were transparently staged for home consumption in the name of internal stability.
 
The Pentagon confirms that soldiers suffered TBI.
.
The Pentagon has said that 34 US troops were diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) following an Iranian attack on their base in Iraq.

Seventeen troops are still under medical observation, a spokesman said.

President Donald Trump had said no Americans were injured in the 8 January strike, which came in retaliation for the US killing of an Iranian general. Mr Trump had cited the supposed lack of injuries in his decision not to strike back against Iran.

But last week, the Pentagon said 11 service members had been treated for concussion symptoms from the attack.

Asked about the apparent discrepancy this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mr Trump said: "I heard that they had headaches, and a couple of other things, but I would say, and I can report, it's not very serious."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51243888

We're up from zero, to 11, to 34. Old news, we're up to 50 now.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/28/politics/50-injuries-iran-strike/index.html
 
Not sure where to put this.




%2Fmethode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2Fc50a9f06-4e9b-11ea-92ed-35f8fca55a87.png

Shadows on the breast area of the space suit tweeted by Iran’s minister for information matched imitation Nasa patches on a children’s Hallowe’en outfit

An Iranian minister has had to apologise for trying to pass off a Hallowe’en costume as the country’s official space suit for future astronauts.

Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, the minister for information, tweeted a picture of the space suit alongside the national flag before the launch on Sunday of Iran’s Zafar 1 satellite. “Astronaut suit, bright future,” he wrote.

As it happened, Zafar — or victory — crashed in a rural part of southeastern Iran. That embarrassment was dwarfed by the scorn poured on Mr Jahromi online after the suit was examined. Shadows on the breast area, suggesting that something had been removed, matched imitation Nasa patches on a children’s Hallowe’en outfit on sale from Amazon for $20.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six...t-revealed-as-20-hallowe-en-costume-0f09b09zz
 
Not sure where to put this.




%2Fmethode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2Fc50a9f06-4e9b-11ea-92ed-35f8fca55a87.png

Shadows on the breast area of the space suit tweeted by Iran’s minister for information matched imitation Nasa patches on a children’s Hallowe’en outfit

An Iranian minister has had to apologise for trying to pass off a Hallowe’en costume as the country’s official space suit for future astronauts.

Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, the minister for information, tweeted a picture of the space suit alongside the national flag before the launch on Sunday of Iran’s Zafar 1 satellite. “Astronaut suit, bright future,” he wrote.

As it happened, Zafar — or victory — crashed in a rural part of southeastern Iran. That embarrassment was dwarfed by the scorn poured on Mr Jahromi online after the suit was examined. Shadows on the breast area, suggesting that something had been removed, matched imitation Nasa patches on a children’s Hallowe’en outfit on sale from Amazon for $20.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six...t-revealed-as-20-hallowe-en-costume-0f09b09zz

lran has a long and comic history of faking this kind of thing, including, but not limited to:

a) lts super new stealth fighter.

b) lts dodgy new ballistic missile.

c) lts other crappy missile.

Still, (c) gave Photoshop artists inspiration:

iu

iu


maximus otter
 
I don't think it's just Iran does this kind of thing. Weren't the Chinese (well, not all them - I mean the state broadcaster) caught passing off stills from Top Gun as actual documentary footage some years back? Or did I imagine that?
 
I note that PFC Adams has lost his foregrip in pic#2.

Thirty burpees with full pack, and 48 hour spudpeeling duties for kit infringement, soldier!
 
I don't think it's just Iran does this kind of thing. Weren't the Chinese (well, not all them - I mean the state broadcaster) caught passing off stills from Top Gun as actual documentary footage some years back? Or did I imagine that?

Yes, and the Russians tried to pass off video game footage as actual arms tests.
 
I think this best fits here.

Concealing the truth
The clerical regime cannot be relied on to provide accurate information, writes Yassamine Mather - either about Iran’s elections or the coronavirus.


Usually, when dictatorships face a crisis, they drop any pretence of ‘democracy’. Thus the decision of the Council of Guardians to ban the majority of ‘reformist’ MPs, as well as those conservative delegates and candidates who had dared to criticise the supreme leader (be it on rare occasions), from the February 21 elections. In total some 7,000 candidates were barred.

This marks the end of any notion that Iran’s Islamic Republic is different from dictatorships led by a single ruler. It also marks the end of the era of inter-Islamic competition between ‘reformists’ and ‘conservatives’ - a period that goes back to the election of the first ‘reformist’ president, ayatollah Mohammad Khatami, in August 1997. It has echoes of 1975, when the shah forcibly merged the only two legal political parties in Iran - Hezb-e Mardom and the ruling New Iran Party - into the Resurgence Party (Hezb-e Rastakhiz). The shah himself referred to them as the ‘Yes Party’ and the ‘Of Course Party’!

It was no surprise when last Friday’s turnout was very low. ...

https://weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/1288/concealing-the-truth/
 
Latest US move may actually backfire.

U.S. move imperils effort to reduce weapons risk from Iranian reactor
By Richard StoneMay. 29, 2020 , 6:15 PM

Ratcheting up its maximum pressure campaign on Iran, the U.S. State Department will no longer waive sanctions against parties redesigning an Iranian heavy water reactor to sharply curtail its generation of plutonium, which can be used to build nuclear weapons.

The 27 May decision is “tremendously concerning,” says Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Project at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. “Heavy water reactors are a substantial proliferation concern.”

Under the 2015 nuclear deal, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the United States and other Western powers agreed to relax sanctions on Iran if it dismantled large pieces its nuclear program and thereby eliminated pathways for quickly building nuclear weapons. In May 2018, the Trump administration withdrew from the agreement, arguing it didn’t go far enough. Other signatories sought to salvage the JCPOA, but flagging efforts prompted Iran, among other steps, to ratchet up uranium enrichment and take other steps it has characterized as reversible. ..

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/us-move-imperils-effort-reduce-weapons-risk-iranian-reactor
 
Recent turbulence in Iran.

Latest reports suggest that the Natanz nuclear facility's centrifuges are damaged beyond repair by an explosion on 2nd July.

This article by David Wurmser for The Asia Times explores more.

"In short, [26th June - 9th July] Iran was afflicted by the explosion of two admitted military targets (the Khojir missile and Natanz enrichment facilities), two power plants (Shiraz and Ahvaz), one petrochemical factory (Karoun), and three mysterious fires in Shiraz, Baqershahr, and the Tajrish Square area of Tehran.

Two cities are beset by demonstrations (Ahvaz and Shush), the currency is collapsing, there may be a run on the banks, and demonstrators are blocking transportation hubs. Taken together, this collection represents two sorts of misfortunes: one afflicting strategic military programs and the other the regime’s stability. "


https://asiatimes.com/2020/07/signs-irans-regime-is-facing-collapse/
 
Even more turbulence in Iran.

... The country is in the midst of yet another major crisis: an ailing dictator trying to ensure his successor; an economic situation bordering on total collapse, thanks to sanctions, as well as corruption and economic mismanagement; the second wave of a pandemic is taking a terrible toll; not to forget the damaging consequences of a number of high-profile trials involving senior members of the clergy or their immediate relatives, who held or currently hold top positions in the government or the judiciary. They face accusations of multi-billion dollar corruption.

In addition, news has recently been dominated by the suicide/murder of a former judge and cleric, Gholamreza Mansouri, in Bucharest. Reports about his death appear alongside pictures of the luxury apartments and villas associated with a pending trial, where there were allegations of his involvement with other corrupt senior clerics and non-clerics, all with connections to one or another of the many factions of the Islamic Republic.

Ironically, on many news websites there are also photos of sugar workers and miners complaining of their families’ hunger - a direct result of non-payment of their wages - together with protests against privatisation. The irony lies in the fact that the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, appears to be under the illusion that he presides over a ‘post-revolutionary’ government - one that came to power promising ‘equality’.

In all this mess, the highlight of the week was Khamenei’s defence of the current and former heads of the country’s judiciary: ayatollahs Ebrahim Raisi and Amoli Larijani. For many years Iranians have been aware of allegations of major corruption amongst senior figures in the judiciary. However, the arrest of Larijani’s former deputy, Akbar Tabari, in July 2019, for financial misdeeds, alongside a major financial corruption trial involving a number of senior judges accused of embezzlement and bribery in recent weeks, has led to widespread dissatisfaction amongst ordinary Iranians. ...

https://weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/1306/next-supreme-leader/
 
Even more turbulence in Iran.

... The country is in the midst of yet another major crisis: an ailing dictator trying to ensure his successor; an economic situation bordering on total collapse, thanks to sanctions, as well as corruption and economic mismanagement; the second wave of a pandemic is taking a terrible toll; not to forget the damaging consequences of a number of high-profile trials involving senior members of the clergy or their immediate relatives, who held or currently hold top positions in the government or the judiciary. They face accusations of multi-billion dollar corruption.

In addition, news has recently been dominated by the suicide/murder of a former judge and cleric, Gholamreza Mansouri, in Bucharest. Reports about his death appear alongside pictures of the luxury apartments and villas associated with a pending trial, where there were allegations of his involvement with other corrupt senior clerics and non-clerics, all with connections to one or another of the many factions of the Islamic Republic.

Ironically, on many news websites there are also photos of sugar workers and miners complaining of their families’ hunger - a direct result of non-payment of their wages - together with protests against privatisation. The irony lies in the fact that the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, appears to be under the illusion that he presides over a ‘post-revolutionary’ government - one that came to power promising ‘equality’.

In all this mess, the highlight of the week was Khamenei’s defence of the current and former heads of the country’s judiciary: ayatollahs Ebrahim Raisi and Amoli Larijani. For many years Iranians have been aware of allegations of major corruption amongst senior figures in the judiciary. However, the arrest of Larijani’s former deputy, Akbar Tabari, in July 2019, for financial misdeeds, alongside a major financial corruption trial involving a number of senior judges accused of embezzlement and bribery in recent weeks, has led to widespread dissatisfaction amongst ordinary Iranians. ...

https://weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/1306/next-supreme-leader/

Interesting.

This Iranian dissident group known as the "Homeland Cheetahs" do seem to be sharpening their claws.

If this the start of a genuine home-grown revolution that overthrows the vile islamofascist theocracy, then I'm all for it.

If there are suspicions of foreign manipulation though, then that's a different matter.
 
Iranian military and industrial facilities have been mysteriously exploding.

https://americanmilitarynews.com/20...-fire-latest-in-pattern-of-unexplained-fires/

"At least seven ships were on fire at the" Iranian port of Bushehr Wednesday.

The news of the ship fires was first reported by Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, and later reported by Reuters. Initial reports indicated three ships were on fire at the Iranian port, but updated reporting indicated the fire had spread to at least seven ships. The ship fires in Iran follow a pattern of unexplained explosions and fires at Iranian military and industrial facilities in recent weeks."
 
I can't help but think this tanker story is going to aggravate the situation ...
Tanker off UAE sought by US over Iran sanctions ‘hijacked’

An oil tanker sought by the U.S. over allegedly circumventing sanctions on Iran was hijacked on July 5 off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, a seafarers organization said Wednesday.

Satellite photos showed the vessel in Iranian waters on Tuesday and two of its sailors remained in the Iranian capital.

It wasn’t immediately clear what happened aboard the Dominica-flagged MT Gulf Sky, though its reported hijacking comes after months of tensions between Iran and the U.S.

David Hammond, the CEO of the United Kingdom-based group Human Rights at Sea, said he took a witness statement from the captain of the MT Gulf Sky, confirming the ship had been hijacked. ...

Hammond said that 26 of the Indian sailors on board had made it back to India, while two remained in Tehran, without elaborating. ....

FULL STORY: https://apnews.com/8c0317d66db96b8c4487b7eaff91354a
 

The Soleimani assassination has been widely reported as a joint CIA-Mossad operation (though we don't know for sure), and it is possible that it would not have happened if Biden was President, given the direct nature of the attack and the status of the target.

Whilst Israel would have every motive for the the recent explosions/fires in Iran, these being largely property damage, I strongly doubt that these would depend on America having a Republican President.

Because there were operations against Iran whilst Democrat Obama was President.

The Stuxnet operation was reported as joint CIA-Mossad venture in 2010.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuxnet

And four Iranian nuclear scientists were assassinated 2010 - 2012.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Iranian_nuclear_scientists

Israel acts against Iran of it's own accord, and has done so for many years.
The type of attack, the "tone" of the attacks, might depend on the influence of the American President. That is possible.
But then again, there is also chance the CIA would act without telling the President.
 
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