Tag Archives: Iran

Iran’s New Damavand Destroyer Set To Join Navy

Posted on by
Iran’s previous Damavand destroyer sank after striking a breakwater at Bandar Anzali, 10 January 2018.

Iran’s previous Damavand destroyer sank after striking a breakwater at Bandar Anzali, 10 January 2018.

“The process of building naval equipment will accelerate.”

On 10 January 2018, Iran’s Damavand destroyer collided with a breakwater while docking at the Caspian port of Bandar Anzali.  While Iranian authorities initially denied the incident, local bloggers soon posted videos of the ship listing and sinking, reportedly killing at least three sailors.  In the excerpted article from the Iranian Defense Ministry’s official news source, Holy Defense News Agency, Shahram Irani, head of the Iranian Navy, announces that the Navy would soon officially launch a new destroyer to replace the Damavand.  That it has taken four years to build the new ship gives a sense of the speed of Iranian shipbuilding.  Iranian Mowj (Wave) class destroyers are equipped with anti-submarine torpedoes, an assortment of surface-to-surface missiles, surface-to-air missiles, and various naval guns and cannons.  Because the Damavand—named for Iran’s tallest mountain—operates in the landlocked Caspian Sea, its replacement needed to be built at Bandar Anzali.  Its mission is to show the flag and guard Iran’s Caspian infrastructure against Caspian littoral states—Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan, all which are relatively friendly with Iran.  This suggests that the political and economic need to keep shipyards busy trump military needs when the Iranian Navy decides where to spend its money.  Given the fact that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps controls such shipbuilding, the construction and launch of a new destroyer for the uncontested Caspian Sea demonstrates how difficult meaningful economic reform in Iran will be.

Source:

“Anjam-e Testha-ye Nahaye Navshakan ‘Damavand’ (Performing Final Tests on the Damavand Destroyer),” Holy Defense News Agency (Iran’s Defense Ministry news outlet), 3 April 2022. https://defapress.ir/fa/news/511977

Admiral Shahram Irani, commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy, in an interview with the defense correspondent of the Holy Defense News Agency, said with regard to the latest situation of the Damavand destroyer, “The Damavand destroyer will join the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy soon and it will be a special occasion.” He stated that the Damavand destroyer is undergoing final tests, and added, “In 2022, the process of building naval equipment will accelerate, with regard to both surface and subsurface technology.”

According to the Holy Defense News Agency, the Damavand destroyer is completely indigenous and the second warship in the Mowj [Wave] class. It is more advanced than the Jamaran [the first of the Mowj class] that joined the Northern [Caspian] fleet on 9 March 2015.

Image Information:

Image: Iran’s previous Damavand destroyer sank after striking a breakwater at Bandar Anzali, 10 January 2018.
Source: Young Journalist Club(a subsidiary of the state-controlled Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting). https://cdn.yjc.news/files/fa/news/1398/7/19/10699419_907.jpg

Iran Digs into Central Syria, Filling Vacuum Left by Russia

Posted on by

“…the spread of pro-Iranian militias and the Fourth Division coincided with the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war, and the beginning of the withdrawal of Russian forces from some military sites in eastern Homs…”

Iran and its allies are fortifying their positions in the central Syrian desert.  The accompanying article from the influential Saudi daily al-Sharq al-Awsat delves into the recent repositioning of Iranian proxies and allies in central Syria.  The article cites an early 2022 deal between the Syrian military’s 4th Division and Iran, in which they agreed to establish nearly a dozen bases throughout central Syria.  These moves coincided with Russia turning its focus to Ukraine and Iran’s recent escalation with Israel, which likely added urgency to Iranian efforts to strengthen its military position in Syria.  To that end, Iran and its allies have focused on supplying and fortifying weapons depots across central Syria.  According to the report from al-Sharq al-Awsat, Iran has provided its Syrian proxies and allies with vehicles, communications devices, and anti-tank missiles.  Russia has also given Iran and its allies control of the massive weapons depot in Mheen, in the Homs desert.  Iran recently established a new militia in Syria, drawing from its various local proxy forces, in order to guard all these weapons depots.  Pro-Iranian forces in central Syria are likely to employ unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to secure their positions.  Local outlets have reported on recent drone transfers, and in late March, Iranian forces held a UAV training session for some of their Syrian proxies.  In early April, the Iranian Arabic-language news channel al-Alam aired footage showing Iran’s proxy forces in Iraq employing Iranian Shahed-129 drones against ISIS targets, suggesting Iranian proxies in Syria would be similarly capable.

Source:

“إيران توسع انتشار ميليشياتها وسلاحها في سوريا 

(Iran expands the reach of its militias and weapons in Syria),” al-Sharq al-Awsat (influential Saudi daily), 7 April 2022. https://tinyurl.com/yp83a5pu


In a new Iranian military tactic aimed at extending Iran’s influence over the largest area of ​​Syrian territory, the Revolutionary Guards have recently strengthened… their presence in about 120 sites and military headquarters in the eastern countryside of Homs, Hama desert, Raqqa desert, and Deir ez-Zor and Aleppo governorates.  They have reinforced these sites with about 4,500 members of the militias loyal to them, and a number of missile launchers, heavy weapons, drones and communications devices. They recently took control of the strategic Mheen warehouses east of Homs, after expanding their influence in the Nairab military airport in Aleppo governorate, at the expense of the Russian and regime forces. They have also established training camps for Syrian volunteers to join militias loyal to Iran.

In the desert of Homs and eastern Hama, sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that “an agreement was reached at the beginning of 2022. Military leaders in the Fourth Division, led by Maher al-Assad, brother of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and leaders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, established about 11 headquarters, headed by officers and military experts from both sides, in the areas of Hasya, Palmyra, Mahin, Al-Qaryatayn, Al-Sukhnah, Al-Kum and Al-Taybeh, east of Homs, and the Salamiyah, Al-Saan, Athria and Sheikh Hilal areas, east of Hama.

… “the spread of pro-Iranian militias and the Fourth Division coincided with the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war, and the beginning of the withdrawal of Russian forces from some military sites in eastern Homs. This includes their recent withdrawal from the Mheen warehouses, which were handed over to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Lebanese Hezbollah”…

On March 27, Iran moved 10 Iranian Muhajir drones from its warehouses in the city of Palmyra, east of Homs, to a camp for drones that was recently established in the al-Tabani area, southwest of Deir ez-Zor. There, they established a UAV training project, imposing a security cordon around the area.

… Syrian activists said that “the IRGC recently formed a new militia called Fajr al-Islam. It is led by Iranian officers and made up of elite elements from the Afghan Fatimiyoun Brigade, the Iraqi Harakat al-Nujaba, and Lebanese Hezbollah, in addition to groups of Alawites loyal to Iran and young Syrian Shiites.” Its mission is to guard Iranian military depots in Hama, Homs, Aleppo, Deir ez-Zor, Palmyra, and Sukhnah, east of Homs

Source:

“بالفيديو..مسيرة  شاهد ١٢٩ تستهدف اوكار الدواعش في العراق

(Video… Shahed-129 drone targets ISIS hideouts in Iraq),” al-Alama (Iranian Arabic-language news channel), 9 April 2022. https://tinyurl.com/376pba2u

Video footage emerged showing members of the Popular Mobilization Forces using the Iranian Shahed-129 drone to target the hideouts of ISIS terrorist gangs in Iraq.

Iran Repositions Its Proxies in Syria as Russia Turns Focus to Ukraine

Posted on by
Syrian Democratic Force soldiers conduct a patrol during a joint operation with U.S. Army Soldiers in Syria on May 8, 2021.

Syrian Democratic Force soldiers conduct a patrol during a joint operation with U.S. Army Soldiers in Syria on May 8, 2021.

“…Iran will not miss this opportunity to consolidate and expand its influence in various sectors, taking advantage of the regime’s need for assistance and support…”

Local media reports indicate that Iran is “repositioning” in Syria, perhaps seeking to take advantage of the Russian military’s focus on Ukraine.  A late February report by Syria-focused Turkish think tank Jusoor Center for Studies speculates that Russia’s focus on Ukraine may detract from its involvement in Syria, “and Iran will not miss this opportunity to consolidate and expand its influence in various sectors.”   The report mentions several signs of Iran’s repositioning in Syria, including increased activities and weapons transfers by Iran-backed militias in regime-controlled areas of the Syrian desert and the Middle Euphrates River Valley, near the border with Iraq.  Tensions were rising between Russian and Iranian proxies in Deir Ezzor Province during the build up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the accompanying excerpt from the Syrian opposition media source Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.  Russian airstrikes on ISIS positions in the desert have declined substantially since the start of the war in Ukraine, even as the group has ramped up its attacks in the Syrian desert, according to a report from the pro-Syrian opposition Lebanese news website al-Modon.  The Quds Brigade, Russia’s key ally in anti-ISIS efforts in the Syrian desert, withdrew precipitously to Damascus.  Meanwhile, local media reports claim several Iraqi militias have returned to Iraq and Iranian proxies in the Fatemiyoun Brigade have redeployed in the area.  The logic behind these movements remains murky, but the accompanying excerpt from the Saudi daily al-Sharq al-Awsat speculates that they relate to strengthening supply lines and transit corridors between Iran’s proxies in Iraq and Syria.

Source:

“6 مؤشرات على إعادة تموضع إيران في سورية

(Six indicators that Iran is repositioning in Syria),” Jusoor Center for Studies (Turkey-based think tank focused on Syria), 4 March 2022. https://tinyurl.com/2p8tnvv4

Since the beginning of 2022, Iran has begun to undertake a series of political, military, economic and security activities in coordination with the Syrian regime, which indicates its repositioning in Syria…

… the continuation of conflict in Ukraine may lead to a decline in Russia’s interest in Syria.  Iran will not miss this opportunity to consolidate and expand its influence in various sectors, taking advantage of the regime’s need for assistance and support…

Source:

“تصاعد ملحوظ في الحرب الباردة بين الجانبين الروسي والإيراني في محاولة لكسب ود أهالي القرى السبع شرقي الفرات

(Notable Escalation in the Cold War between Russia and Iran in an attempt to gain allegiance from the ‘Seven Villages’ east of the Euphrates),” Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (Syrian opposition media source), https://tinyurl.com/2p85pm2x, 16 February 2022.

Recently, the competition between Russia and Iran has escalated in the countryside of Deir Ezzor governorate, specifically in the so-called “seven villages” under the influence of the Iranians and the regime east of the Euphrates, and the corresponding areas on the western bank of the river…

Source:

“إيران تتمدد في سوريا..إثر تراجع النشاط الروسي

(Iran expands in Syria… following decline in Russian activities),” al-Modon (pro-Syrian Lebanese news website), 12 March 2022. https://tinyurl.com/2p8v8v9y


Russian military activities throughout the Syrian territory have declined as the Russian attack on Ukraine enters its third week. At the same time, Iranian militias are sending military reinforcements to the city of Palmyra and its surroundings.

…“the Russian aerial bombardment on the Syrian desert is half of what it was before the war on Ukraine”…


On Friday, the Palestinian “Quds Brigade” militia withdrew from the city of Palmyra, located in the eastern countryside of Homs. Militia members left the city heading towards the governorate of Damascus. The motives for this withdrawal remain unknown and it is unclear whether they will return later. According to the sources of the Syrian Observatory, the Quds Brigade’s withdrawal came without prior warning or coordination with the regime’s security services located in Palmyra and its surroundings.

Source:

“مئات من ميليشيات إيران يغادرون سوريا إلى العراق 

(Hundreds of Iranian miliitas leave Syria for Iraq),” al-Sharq al-Awsat (influential Saudi daily), 7 March 2022. https://tinyurl.com/mrdd5r2m

Syrian activists reported that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard began withdrawing a large number of militia members of the Fatemiyoun Brigade (Afghani) and Iraqi (Shiite) militias from military sites in the areas of Palmyra and Sukhna, east of Homs, into Iraqi territory, through unauthorized crossings. Other fighters from the (Afghan Fatemiyoun) Brigade were deployed to new camps east of Palmyra. The sites in Homs countryside and a number of military vehicles and equipment were handed over to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. The development was described by activists in the region as “remarkable,” at a time when (ISIS) launched repeated attacks against regime forces and Iranian militias in the Homs desert and Deir Ezzor, incurring losses in life and equipment.

Image Information:

Image:  Syrian Democratic Force soldiers conduct a patrol during a joint operation with U.S. Army Soldiers in Syria on May 8, 2021. 
Source: Spc. Isaiah J Scott, https://www.dvidshub.net/image/6705061/sdf-conducts-patrol-syria
Attribution: Public Domain

Iran’s Supreme Leader Condemns Alleged Corruption of the West

Posted on by
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei speaks on 1 March 2022.

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei speaks on 1 March 2022.

“One clear and complete example of modern ignorance is the United States.”

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is Iran’s highest authority and singlehandedly sets key social and security policies.  It is in this context that the speech excerpted here from Khamenei’s official website is important.  Speaking on Eid al-Mab’ath, the anniversary of God choosing the Prophet Muhammad as his messenger and beginning the process of revealing the Qur’an to him, Khamenei draws parallels between Meccan society at the time and the United States today.  Prior to the revelation of the Qur’an, Mecca wallowed in the “Age of Ignorance.”  Muhammad’s subsequent struggles and battles were to end the “Age of Ignorance” and bring light to the world.  Khamenei argues that today America represents the same ignorance and decadence that pre-Islamic, polytheistic Mecca did.  He singles out homosexuality as a prime example of the social chaos and decay, speaks of the shame of discussing it, and laments that the United States systematically promotes the practice.

Khamenei also uses his speech to condemn capitalism.  While many analysts describe factional differences inside Iran as being between so-called reformists and hardliners, there are also fissures that date back to the 1979 Revolution itself between proponents of a command economy and those who seek more free market reforms.  The clerical establishment often shrouds itself in social justice rhetoric.  Khamenei’s castigation of capitalists falls into this context.  An embrace of the role of the state in the economy also brings cover to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, whose role in manufacturing, construction, and the oil industry borders on monopolistic. 

Khamenei’s discussion of capitalism, however, is also meant to fuel anti-Americanism.  Not only does he claim the United States represents ignorance, but its capitalism funds and promotes various evils and crises, according to Khamenei.  He thus exaggerates and provides a paranoid twist to those who castigate the “military-industrial complex.”  To Khamenei, the capitalist cabal that shapes American policy explains not only the United States’ creation of the Islamic State but also the crisis in Ukraine.

Khamenei also exposes some of his deeper concerns when he castigates America’s capitalist cabal for helping spark revolutions and people power movements in various autocratic states.  He has reason for concern given the increasing frequencies and breadth of Iran’s protest movement.  Certainly, Khamenei’s address is not the first to voice his anti-Americanism.  By reinforcing that now, Khamenei signals that whatever the outcome and course of diplomacy between the United States and Iran, the regime’s anti-Americanism is likely to remain unchanged.

Source:

“Biyanat dar Sokhanrani Televizioni beh Monasabat ‘Eid Mab’ath (Statements in a Televised Speech on the Occasion of Eid al-Mab’ath),” Khamenei.ir (Khamenei’s official website), 1 March 2022. https://tinyurl.com/ufp66zrm

…The basis of life in western civilization is greed and avarice. Today, the basis of all western values is money. Everything is measured with money. The foundation of all western values rests on money at present…. The common policy among governments moves in the direction of discrimination and the fattening of companies and cartels…. 

Sometimes, one uses money to produce such and such a vaccine and medicine to save a number of people and sometimes, one uses it to build weapons of mass destruction and chemical and atomic weapons which kill a hundred-fold amount of people. This has already happened and it continues to happen in the world.

I can equally mention the plunder of weak countries, extreme moral decadence and chaos, homosexuality and the like that one is ashamed even mentioning them. Today, a strange sexual chaos exists in the world. These are things that existed in those days [of ignorance before the Prophet Muhammad] and in the present time. However, in those days, such things were limited in scope, but today, they are very large in scope and are done in a systematic way.

For many of these forms of corruption and vices, fake rationalizations have been fabricated. They have fabricated an intellectual basis and source of support for it and they present it to humanity. So, this modern ignorance is there in the world today. Therefore, if someone refers to today’s western civilization as modern ignorance, as some people have already done, they are right because it is the same ignorance, but it is showing itself in a modern and modernized way.

So, what should we do? We should review the lessons of bi’tha [the sending to the Prophet Muhammad of the first verses of the Qur’an]. We should treat today’s ignorance in the same way the Holy Prophet (God’s greetings be upon him and his household) treated the ignorance of those past days. This is our responsibility. We should primarily strengthen faith….

Another responsibility is to strengthen the Islamic government. An Islamic government, with and under the flag of Islam, has been established in the Islamic Republic by God’s favor. Therefore, we must strengthen it, solidify its bases and expand its products as much as possible….

Of course, this modern ignorance is not the same everywhere in the world. In my opinion, one clear and complete example of modern ignorance is the United States. This form of ignorance is more serious and severe than anywhere else in the world. This is the case in the true sense of the word. America is a regime that promotes indecent conduct, in which discrimination is exacerbating on a daily basis and in which national wealth is increasingly flowing towards the wealthy and rich…. Today, the embodiment of modern ignorance, discrimination, oppression and generation of crisis in the world is America. Basically, the American regime is a crisis-making and crisis-feeding regime. It feeds off crises. It nourishes off the various crises that occur in the world….

There are networks of mafia power in the United States and these networks feed off and take advantage of the crises that occur throughout the world. The United States is basically a mafia regime. The United States is a mafia regime: political, economic and weapons-manufacturing mafia…. These mafia cartels and this mafia regime need crises to exist throughout the world. Therefore, they create centers of crisis. Notice how many crises they created in West Asia. The Americans even felt the need to give birth to a creature called the Islamic State that was their trained dog….Today, in my opinion, Ukraine is a victim of this policy as well. Ukraine’s situation at present stems from this American policy. It was the United States that dragged Ukraine to this point. Naturally, interfering in the domestic affairs of Ukraine, organizing rallies against governments, launching velvet revolutions and color coup d’etats, American senators being present in demonstrations, and replacing a government with another, leads to these crises.

Image Information:

Image: Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei speaks on 1 March 2022
Source: Khamenei.ir
https://tinyurl.com/47d22nu5
Attribution:

Iran Uses Online War Games To Teach Younger Generation of Officers

Posted on by
Inside the headquarters of Iran Cyber Defense Command.

Inside the headquarters of Iran Cyber Defense Command.

“We have designed… the war game process in the software space.”

Iran’s annual war games often make headlines, whether for their deliberate provocations of the United States, debuting new hardware, or accidents such as the friendly fire incident in May 2020, which killed 19 Iranian sailors. The excerpted article from the Iranian defense ministry’s official news outlet, Holy Defense News Agency, discusses efforts to make war games more widespread and accessible by conducting studies of enemy tactics online.  A willingness to conduct online war games likely also reflects the comfort of a younger generation of Iranian soldiers with computers.  While Iran might be diplomatically isolated, the internet has nevertheless permeated the country.  Many younger officers grew up in an age when computers, the internet, and gaming were widespread.  Perhaps in recognition of this fact, five years ago, the Iranian Army released a video game called “Battle in the Gulf of Aden 2” (see: “Iran: Army Unveils Video Game,” OE Watch, September 2017).

Making online war games part of the military curriculum is the logical next step.  Iranian military culture already encourages autonomy at the O-4, O-5, and O-6 levels, at least relative to the cultures of neighboring states.  Online war games can contribute to more realistic and strategic thinking by allowing mid-level commanders to design tactics and strategies that take into account different configurations of enemy numbers and equipment.  That said, as in the West, such games are hostage to the quality of the inputs.  While tabletop war games replete with hot washes between rounds enable militaries to identify unknowns, software-based war games do not provide such opportunities and may therefore contribute to the ossification of false assumptions.

Source:

“Tarsim-e ‘Bazi Jang’ dar Feza-ye Narmafzari” (Creating Wargame Software),” Holy Defense News Agency, 2 March 2022. https://defapress.ir/fa/news/509305

Hossein Valivand-Zamani, commander of the Iranian Army Command and Staff College, on the sidelines of the 31st Defense Management Training Course and the 7th Joint and Combined Operations Course of the Army Command and Staff College, told reporters: “We recruit a large number of middle-ranking officers from the armed forces of the country and friendly and allied countries to pursue a master’s degree in defense management.” He added, “We also recruit each year a number of officers for the doctorate of war program.”

The commander of the Army Command and Staff College continued. “We have basic grounding in tactics, and we also war game, as all armies in the world do, as part of training in order to deal with threats.”

General Valivand continued, “The principle of the war game is calculated based on the number of forces, the amount of equipment, tools and capacities of the enemy and the enemy forces, and then, the war game is played for possible movements of the enemy….”

The commander of the Army War College added, “Today, based on the principles of war gaming, in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Davos Room, we have designed and programmed the war game process in the software space, which students use to increase their knowledge….”

Image Information:

Image: Inside the headquarters of Iran Cyber Defense Command
Source: Azad News Agency
https://media.ana.press/old/1398/02/09/636921442688936464_lg.jpg
Attribution:

Iran: Emphasizing Religiosity in Regular Army Promotions

Posted on by
Abbas Mohammad Hassani, the supreme leader’s representative to the Iranian Army, at the Second Conference of Iranian Army Commanders, June 2019.

Abbas Mohammad Hassani, the supreme leader’s representative to the Iranian Army, at the Second Conference of Iranian Army Commanders, June 2019.

“The general interests of the army should trump the interests of individuals.”

Iran has two parallel and sometimes overlapping militaries: the regular army focused on territorial defense and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), whose founding statutes charge it with defense of the Revolution from both external and internal enemies.  Traditionally, the IRGC have been the more elite force.  They are better resourced, volunteer based, and more selective, whereas the Iranian government uses conscription to staff the army.

While millions of Iranians serve their two years in the army and then leave military service behind, some Iranians seek to make it a career.  In the excerpted article from the regime’s official defense-specialty news agency Holy Defense News Agency, Hojjat ol-Eslam Abbas Mohammad Hassani, the official representative of the Supreme Leader to the Army, speaks to commanders about how to appoint the correct individuals to fill higher-level positions.  The fact that the cleric filling this role is one rank below ayatollah demonstrates the extent to which the clergy remain intertwined with the broader Iranian military; they do not limit their role to the IRGC.  Hassani makes clear that religiosity must be a factor in determining appointments. Hassani cites a verse from the surah al-Saffat, chapter 37 of the Qur’an: “And stop them. They are to be questioned.”  The Prophet Mohammad received the al-Saffat in Mecca during a period in which many of the revelations focused on spirituality rather than governance.  The context of the verse is calling to account idolaters on the Day of Judgment.  That Hassani chose to make religion a criterion raises questions about whether the Supreme Leader believes the Army is a weak link in his efforts to ensure a universal embrace of the Islamic Republic’s Shi’ite revolutionary values.

Source:

“Gozinesh Nakhstin Sang-e Bona Yek Sazman Ast” (Selection is the Cornerstone of an Organization),” Holy Defense News Agency (Iran’s official defense-specialty news agency), 28 February 2022, https://defapress.ir/fa/news/509142

…Hojjat ol-Eslam Abbas Mohammad Hassani, the head of the army’s ideological-political organization, visited the Army’s selection center in the presence of relevant commanders and officials and emphasized the importance and high position of selection in the army. The future of the army is based on these choices, because if the choices are correct, the future of the army is undoubtedly bright and promising. He described selection as a determination of destiny and added, “With correct selection of the relevant officials, in addition to the destiny of the organization, the path of a person’s life will also be changed. Therefore, if, God forbid, we slip in determining these two destinies, in addition to misleading and distorting the person’s way through life, we will also suffer from self-harm, because, according to verse 24 of Surah al-Saffat we must be responsible and will be accountable for our actions and deeds.

Hojjat ol-Eslam Hassani emphasized the importance of selection with argument and reason. “The rejection of the candidates for employment must be based on religious, legal and rational reasons, so one must be very careful not to accept or reject someone without a reason….

In the end, the representative of the supreme leader to the army pointed out that we should always build an army better than before, noting that in the selections, the general interests of the army should trump the interests of individuals….

Image Information:

Image: Abbas Mohammad Hassani, the supreme leader’s representative to the Iranian Army, at the Second Conference of Iranian Army Commanders, June 2019.
Source: Tasnim News Agency
https://newsmedia.tasnimnews.com/Tasnim/Uploaded/Image/1398/03/29/139803291237080217686354.jpg
Attribution:

Iran-Backed Iraqi Group Attacks Abu Dhabi with UAVs in Support of Yemen’s Houthis

Posted on by
Map of the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula.

Map of the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula.

“… the UAE has become vulnerable to attacks from more than one direction…”

A little-known group calling itself the “True Promise Brigades” claimed a 2 February attack on Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), involving multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).  The group’s only other known prior activity was an early 2021 UAV strike on the Yamama Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  The Abu Dhabi attack caused no known material damage.  It came on the heels of a two-week span that saw Yemen’s Houthi-controlled military forces launch three separate missile and UAV attacks targeting Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the two main cities in the UAE.  The timing of the True Promises Brigades’ attack implied a potential link between them and the Houthis, reinforced by supportive tweets from the Houthi-led forces’ influential military spokesman, such as the first accompanying tweet, in which the spokesman thanked the group.  On social media, the True Promise Brigades eschew national identification and call themselves “sons of the Arabian Peninsula.”  The second and third accompanying passages from pro-Iran outlets hint that the group operates from the Iraqi desert, is associated with Iran-backed Iraqi militias, and is under the command of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ international wing, the Quds Force.  The article from the pro-Iran Lebanese influential daily al-Akhbar argues that the Abu Dhabi attack is directly tied to Iraqi politics.  Specifically, the article’s author sees it as a response to perceived Emirati meddling in Iraqi politics and its support for factions opposed to Iranian influence in Iraq.  The article from the pro-Iran Lebanese media channel al-Mayadeen, meanwhile, places the attack in the context of Yemen and sees it as a response to coalition escalation in Yemen.  The attack’s key message, according to the article, is that Iranian allies are capable of linking the Yemeni and Iraqi arenas and conducting semi-coordinated actions targeting Saudi Arabia and the UAE from both directions.

Source:

Yahya Sare’e (Houthi-controlled military spokesman), Twitter, 3 February 2022. https://twitter.com/army21ye/status/1489295787616047106

We send our congratulations on the jihadist operation carried out by the True Promise Brigades-Sons of the Arabian Peninsula against the Emirati enemy yesterday, Wednesday. We thank them for this honorable, responsible and solidary stance with our dear people against the client Emirati enemy.

Source:

“المأزق الإماراتيّ يتعمّق: جبهة جديدة… من العراق

(The Emirati Impasse Deepens: A New Front… from Iraq),” al-Akhbar (pro-Iran influential Lebanese daily), 4 February 2022. https://tinyurl.com/w7xb8a88

Whatever the group’s identity, the event itself confirms that the UAE has become vulnerable to attacks from more than one direction. This creates greater risks for Emirati security, against the background of its aggression in Yemen and its blatant interference in the internal affairs of Iraq. Washington seems to have handed over the file of the new ruling arrangement to the UAE following the October 10 elections, in which Muqtada al-Sadr, Massoud Barzani and Muhammad al-Halbousi achieved the largest victory, all of whom are allies or friends of Abu Dhabi. The latter has also moved closer to Turkey, allowing for arrangements to be made resulting in the unification of the al-Halbousi and Khamis al-Khanjar blocs, and the re-election of al-Halbousi, who is considered the UAE’s man in Iraq, as Speaker of the House of Representatives. This in turn opened the way for the installation of a “majority coalition” that excluded Iran’s allies, which is a great risk for Iraqi security and for which the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed, bears responsibility…

Source:

“دخول “ألوية الوعد الحق” العراقيّة على خطِّ حرب اليمن.. اشتباك أو تشبيك؟

(Iraq’s ‘True Promises Brigades’’ Entry into the Yemen War… Clashes or Linking),” al-Mayadeen (pro-Iran Lebanese media channel), 8 February 2022. https://tinyurl.com/3p4skytc

This Iraqi group is very interested in the Yemen war, and it is almost specialized in it. In addition, it seems that it is interested in standing up to Saudi Arabia and the UAE in particular… It is very likely that the strike on Abu Dhabi carried a political message: “Don’t forget that the arenas can be linked when the time comes.” Let us note that the strike came after a crazy escalation carried out by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and after American supplies to Abu Dhabi, including warplanes, and the dispatch of the American destroyer “USS Cole” to the Gulf to support the UAE navy, and talk of a possible ground attack from the Yemeni coast… These intensive messages, whether military or political, come in the context of a clear linking of the arenas, especially since leaders in Ansar Allah wrote on their Twitter accounts that the confrontation would not be with Sanaa alone in the event of any major US invasion of Yemen.

Image Information:

Image:  Map of the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula.
Source: Abuk Sabuk via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Middle_east_CIA.jpg
Attribution: Public Domain

Russia and China To Help Iran Build New Airports

Posted on by
Tabriz International Airport, in northwest Iran.

Tabriz International Airport, in northwest Iran.

“In the long run, we need a number of world class international airports.”

Iran is a huge country, almost four times the size of Iraq and six times the size of the United Kingdom.  It can take eight hours or more to travel by road between Tehran and Isfahan or Isfahan to Shiraz.  In order to facilitate transport, the Iranian government has long subsidized domestic air travel.  The price of an Iran Air ticket from Tehran to its second largest city Mashhad, 560 miles away, is just $38 at the real exchange rate.  Other fares are cheaper. As such, domestic air travel is very popular among Iranians.

While the newer Imam Khomeini International Airport, in the desert between Tehran and Qom, handles most international flights, the older Mehrabad airport within Tehran’s city limit is the primary domestic hub serving the capitol. The excerpted article from pro-regime and security focused Fars News Agency examines Iranian government planning for the future of Iran’s national air transportation infrastructure and mentions completion of upgrades at Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport.  It suggests that Iran is turning to both Russia and China to upgrade existing airfields and build ostensibly new “world class international airports,” that would necessitate large runways that could also accommodate Russian and Chinese military aircraft.

Source:

“Hamkari Chin va Rusiya ba Iran baraye Sakht-e Chandin Farudgah Bayn Almelli dar Sateh Jahani (China, Russia to Help Iran Build Several World-Class International Airports),” Fars News Agency (Iranian media outlet with close ties to the Iranian defense and security apparatus), 2 February 2022. https://www.farsnews.ir/news/14001112000609/

Siavash Amir Makri today told reporters on the sidelines of a commemoration marking the anniversary of the historic return of Imam Khomeini on 1 February 1979, and the inauguration of various projects at Mehrabad Airport that Iran’s Airport Company is responsible for managing, directing, and developing 53 airports across the country…

He added: In previous years, relying on domestic production capacity and knowledge-based companies, we provided most of our equipment needs from domestic production. He continued, “Recently, we have had projects such as advanced radar, switching and navigation aid systems and runway lighting system at Ardabil airport, and have reached self-sufficiency in these fields.”

Regarding the promotion of interactions with China and Russia, he said, “Our plan in the field of airports, considering the interactions with China and Russia, will be the construction of new airports in accordance with the needs of the country in some areas.”

The chief of Iran Airports Company said, “After technical and specialized discussions, projects will aim for the next 20 to 25 years since existing airports will meet the needs of the industry for the next 15 years, but in the long run we need a number of world class international airports.”

Image Information:

Image: Tabriz International Airport, in northwest Iran.
Source: Hamshahri
https://media.hamshahrionline.ir/d/2019/03/19/4/4320141.jpg
Attribution:

Iran’s Prosecution of Arab Separatist Highlights Supposed Saudi Ties

Posted on by

“Why does the King of Saudi Arabia send an invitation to a terrorist?”

Iran has a centuries-long history of separatist movements, often backed by foreign powers, including Portugal, Great Britain, and Russia.  Many separatist movements took on an ethnic character, with various minorities—Kurds and Azeris, for example—claiming their own homelands.  Iran’s Arabs, many centered on the towns of Khorramshahr and Ahwaz, also agitated for independence beginning in the first decade of the 20th century.  Saddam Hussein sought to weaponize these sentiments during his 1980 invasion of Iran.  While Iranian Arabs did not defect to Saddam in any substantial numbers, the late Iraqi leader was correct to see the Khuzistan region as rife with discontent.  Iranian Arabs not only chafe at overt discrimination, but also resent the fact that Tehran redistributes Khuzistan’s oil wealth outside the province while Khuzistan remains underdeveloped compared to the rest of Iran.

It is against this backdrop that the Iranian government is particularly sensitive toward ethnic separatist movements in Khuzistan.  The excerpted article by Iran’s official state broadcaster, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, details an investigation into alleged Ahwazi terrorist Habib Asyud (a.k.a. Habib Chaab or Habib Farajullah).  Asyud had lived in Sweden for 14 years but, in October 2020, Iranian intelligence lured him to Turkey and kidnapped him to Iran, where he stands trial for “spreading corruption on earth,” a catch-all capital offense that the Iranian government uses to execute captured oppositionists.

Asyud is openly separatist.  In Sweden, he founded the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz (the capital of Khuzistan).  Still, it is not clear if there is any truth to Iran’s accusation that he is responsible for terrorism.  In the excerpted article, the prosecutor reveals evidence that purports to tie Asyud to the Saudi king and suggests that the Saudi King himself directed Arab Struggle Movement attacks on Iranian civilians.  Iranian hardliners will likely use such accusations to undercut any efforts for rapprochement with Saudi Arabia.  Elsewhere, the prosecutor suggests that Asyud also has ties to former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service.

The prosecutor also accused Asyud of bombings in Dizful and Abadan, pipeline attacks, and the bombings of various government offices in Ahvaz, suggesting that the Arab Struggle Movement, under the name Harakat al-Nidal, was responsible for a 2018 attack on an Iranian military parade in Ahvaz that killed 30 and injured 70.  The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.

Iranian trials are not free and fair and the excerpted reports of the trial make it appear to be a show trial.  While Asyud also holds Swedish citizenship, the Iranian government will likely execute him.  However, Tehran will seek to distract from accusations of Iranian-sponsored terrorism by, with false equivalence, accusing European governments of engaging in the same behavior.  Iran has already issued INTERPOL red notices for Iranian Arab dissidents in Europe and the Middle East.

Source:

“Hamkari Habib Assoud ba Servis-e Ettela’at-e Arabistan (Habib Assoud cooperates with the Saudi intelligence service),” Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (Iran’s official state broadcaster), 2 February 2022. https://www.iribnews.ir/fa/news/3351923

Amin Vaziri, the prosecutor’s representative, today unveiled documents regarding Habib Asyud’s cooperation with the Saudi intelligence service. He said, “The elements of this terrorist group went to Saudi Arabia under the guise of Hajj to carry out the plans dictated by the Saudi intelligence service. These plans included actions against innocent citizens of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The next image displayed in court showed Yaqub Nisi meeting with the king of Saudi Arabia. Yaqub Nisi was the spokesman for the terrorist group Harakat al-Nidal, which was responsible for the 4 September 2018 terrorist attack against the Armed Forces, which resulted in the martyrdom of 25 of our innocent compatriots. Can you believe he meet the top official in Saudi Arabia? Later in the court, he showed a picture of the invitation of the King of Saudi Arabia sent to Isa Mehdi al-Fakher.

In response to the display of these images, the prosecutor’s representative said, “Why does the King of Saudi Arabia send an invitation to a terrorist arrested in the Netherlands? Because the plans of the Saudi intelligence service against innocent Iranian citizens.”The prosecutor’s representative also said that Habib Asyud had been under the special support of Sweden all these years and had infiltrated associations, organizations and even charities to recruit and organize people into terrorist groups.

Iranian Authorities Arrest Alleged Deputy Leader of Royalist Terrorist Group

Posted on by
Jamshid Sharmahd, after his August 2020 arrest.

Jamshid Sharmahd, after his August 2020 arrest.

“Tondar is one of the counterrevolutionary groups in which supporters of the Pahlavi regime are active.”

While the broader Iranian population may not be revolutionary, Iranians have increasingly come out into the streets to protest government abuses and declining living standards.  Although nearly three-quarters of Iran’s current population was born after the Islamic Revolution and has no direct experience with the shah’s regime, photos of pro-monarchy graffiti and videos of pro-shah chants increasingly circulate on social media from inside Iran.

It is against this backdrop that the trial of a suspect called “Masmatos,” accused of being a member of royalist terror group “Tondar,” becomes important.  In the excerpted article from news media outlet Fars News Agency, the Iranian prosecutor announces the arrest and accuses Tondar of responsibility for the 2008 bombing of a popular Shi’ite congregation hall in Shiraz that reportedly killed 14 people and injured more than 200 others.  The article also accuses Tondar of attempted attacks ranging from a bomb plot against the Sivand Dam, trying to use “cyanide bombs” at the Tehran International Book Fair, and an explosion at the shrine of Imam Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic Revolution who died in 1989.

After the Shiraz bombing, Iranian security forces arrested two suspects, Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour.  Iran accused them of royalist links and subsequently tried and executed them in 2010.  Iranian security forces claim to have arrested Tondar leader Jamshid Sharmahd in August 2020; he is still in the custody of the Iranian intelligence service.  The Iranian press identifies the mysterious “Masmatos” as the second-in-command of Tondar’s military wing and says he also had knowledge of the assassination plot against Iranian nuclear physicist Massoud Ali Mohammadi, who died in a bombing outside his home in 2010.  At the time, the Iranian government attributed that bombing alternately to Israel and to the Mujahedin al-Khalq, an organization that frequently conducts terrorism inside Iran.

The fact that the Iranian government is now seeking to reattribute past attacks to proponents of the past monarchy may reflect the government’s desire to tarnish the image of the monarchy for a new generation of Iranians.  At the same time, the fact that the late shah’s son, Reza Pahlavi, the most recognizable opposition figure among Iranians, lives in the United States likely means the Iranian government will use “Tondar” to accuse the United States of being a state sponsor of terror in order to negate U.S. accusations of Iranian state terror sponsorship.

Source:

“Nafar-e Devvom Shakheh Nizami Goruhaj-e ‘Tondar’ Dastgir Shod (Number Two Person in the Military Branch of the ‘Tondar’ Gang Arrested),” Fars News Agency (news media outlet with close ties to Iran’s defense and security establishment), 2 February 2022.  https://www.farsnews.ir/news/14001113000785

… The number two member of the military branch of the Tondar [Thunder] group was arrested by anonymous soldiers of Imam al-Zaman [in this context: elite intelligence forces]. The man, identified as “Masmatos” was detained by the intelligence forces. Tondar is one of the opposition and counterrevolutionary groups in which supporters of the Pahlavi regime are active. Some experts believe this group was founded in the first decade of the 21st century or, more specifically, 2005. The more precise name of this group is the Royal Society of Iran. According to available information, Fathollah Manouchehri (also known as Foroud Fouladvand) was the leader of the group in the first years of its establishment up until 2007, after which Jamshid Shahrmad took over the group’s leadership.

On Saturday, 1 August 2020, news broke that the Ministry of Intelligence had arrested Jamshid Shahrmad, the leader of the Tondar terrorist group. Tondar was responsible for many crimes, such as the bombing of the Sayyid al-Shohada Hosseiniyah in Shiraz, a bloody incident in which many innocent people were martyred, as well as the attempt to blow up the Sivand dam in Shiraz. Masmatos was also the first person to publish the news of the assassination of nuclear scientist Martyr Ali Mohammadi.

Image Information:

Image: Jamshid Sharmahd, after his August 2020 arrest.
Source: Islamic Republic News Agency,  https://img9.irna.ir/d/r2/2020/08/02/4/157271087.jpg
Attribution: