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Iran Promises More Missile Tests After White House Puts It ‘On Notice’

Iran Promises More Missile Tests After White House Puts It ‘On Notice’

Trump exploring options, including more sanctions.

Earlier this week, Iran performed a ballistic missile test in defiance of a UN resolution. President Donald Trump’s White House officially put Iran on notice for more consequences if the regime has more tests.

The regime has laughed at the threats:

“This is not the first time that an inexperienced person has threatened Iran,” [President Adviser Ali Akbar] Velayati said. “Iran is the strongest power in the region and has a lot of political, economic and military power … America should be careful about making empty threats to Iran.”

He added: “Iran will continue to test its capabilities in ballistic missiles and Iran will not ask any country for permission in defending itself.”

On Wednesday, National Security Adviser Michael Flynn called the Islamic republic a “‘destabilizing influence’ in the Middle East” and condemned the missile test:

“As of today, we are officially putting Iran on notice,” said Michael T. Flynn, the national security adviser, making his debut in the White House briefing room to read a terse statement that was almost as critical of the Obama administration as it was of Iran.

“The Trump administration condemns such actions by Iran that undermine security, prosperity and stability throughout and beyond the Middle East, and place American lives at risk,” he said.

UN resolution 2231, adopted after the deal was signed, specifically states that Iran cannot conduct ballistic missile tests. Iran shot back saying that these missiles do not count since they cannot “carry a nuclear warhead.”

Other officials have said that Trump has started exploring options to take action against Iran, including more sanctions. Iran said new sanctions would violate the nuclear deal.

Another option includes “targeting Iran’s elite military unit, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard.” Congress has begun working on this measure with staff saying they could finish it by March.

But while senior officials within the administration agree the launch didn’t violate the nuclear deal, some said Iran needs to change:

“The important thing is here is that we’re communicating that Iranian behavior needs to be rethought by Tehran,” one senior official said. “That is something Tehran needs to think through, because we are considering these things in a different perspective.”

Trump trashed the nuclear deal on the campaign trail, saying he would either eliminate or revamp it. Back in January 2016, he told rally attendees that “the nuclear deal with Iran is so bad, he is close to wondering whether it was done poorly on purpose.” From The Hill:

“It’s almost like there has to be something else going on,” he said Saturday night at a rally in Biloxi, Miss. “I don’t think there is, I just don’t think they’re competent.”

Trump said he couldn’t believe the U.S. would agree to a deal with Iran that did not include the return of Americans held prisoner in Iran.

“Who would make that deal?” he asked, suggesting Tehran was celebrating as the agreement was being negotiated.

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Comments

Thanks, Obama!

Iran really just hasn’t been paying attention to America and President Donald Trump, have they? Every time President Trump has said he will do something, he does. Those are no empty threats; instead, those seem to be promises.

Dear Iran, don’t poke the bear. President Trump is not a weak Obama that was all talk and no action.

I’ve actually grown to like a suggestion from one of the prior threads:

Park an Aegis Combat System off the coast of Iran, and actively shoot down anything that launches like a ballistic missile.

Put the Iranians on notice that if anything launches without notifying the United States at least three days in advance, the US WILL shoot it down. If the Iranians fail to give notice, that’s their problem. No warnings.

Structure it and press-release it as “the United States cannot take the risk that the Rogue Iranian Regime, which has so routinely skirted UN Resolutions, has aided other nations in actively violating UN Resolutions (DPRK) and has so threatened United States Allies, will potentially fire a missile at one of those allies. The United States must defend it’s allies in the region.

If they want to be really mean about it, state that not only will the missile in-flight be destroyed, a concurrent missile will be used to destroy the platform that the missile was fired FROM.

If the Iranians then threaten to treat it as an act of war, say OK. We’ll be there in a few weeks to crush you like a bug. Expect the bombing to start today.

I have seen the estimated numbers of deaths that will result from a nuclear exchange between Iran and Israel and they are not pretty. A specific analysis of which major population centers would be involved, how much explosive force the bombs will have, how many would be detonated on each city and how far the fallout would spread based upon the prevailing winds. The numbers are scary.

And yes, if the US embassy remains in Tel-Aviv all those staffers will die.

    dmi60ex in reply to MattMusson. | February 2, 2017 at 3:05 pm

    There is a belief that Israel may also nuke European capitals in the event of a catastrophic nuclear exchange with Iran . Payback for years of dissing Israel. They figure , we are gonna go lets take the bast,,,,ds with us.

    Do you think Iran would hesitate to send a nuke into Jerusalem too?

      Yes.

      Religion and culture is EVERYTHING to the Iranians. It’s their heritage. It’s half the basis for belief in their superiority. The other half is their belief being descended from “Persia” and being Persian (If you want to offend an Iranian, refer to them as “Arabs”).

      They’re not going to risk the destruction of the Dome of the Rock or the Al-Aqsa Mosque. They’re DEFINITELY not going to get so close as to damage the Foundation Stone, where THEY believe that Abraham attempted to sacrifice Ishmael rather than Issac, as part of their claim to be descended from Abraham.

      According to some Islamic scholars, the rock is the spot from which the Islamic prophet Muhammad ascended to Heaven accompanied by the angel Gabriel. Further, Muhammad was taken here by Gabriel to pray with Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. Other Islamic scholars believe that the Prophet ascended to Heaven from the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

    This is true. The Iranian mullahs once stated something like:

    Iran has 40 million people. Israel has 20 million people. If there is a nuclear war and Iran loses 20 million and Israel loses 20 million, IRAN WINS!

    You cannot negotiate with people who think like that…

Humphrey's Executor | February 2, 2017 at 2:40 pm

I am convinced middle easterners only respect strength and brutality. They do not respond positively to kindness or olive branches or the like. To them it is a sign of weakness only to be exploited, not reciprocated. That’s their culture and that’s why Obama’s policies were futile and counter-productive.

    I wish the Bush administration had caught onto that. It’s what OBL meant when he said that when people see a strong horse and a weak horse, they will naturally prefer the strong horse.

    We fought the GWOT in ways that made us look weak but people in the administration thought were compassionate and would be seen as such. It’s not the first time in our history that we expected others to thin rationally as we define it (see WWII, and how no one thought the Japanese would attack the US because it would be suicidal an irrational). Actually, both Bush1 and Bush2 did so. Bush1 stopped the war when he saw images of the destruction on the “Highway of Death.” He thought the Iraqis had had enough. Bush1’s other rationale was that if he went into Iraq he would destroy the coalition.

    Well, duh! That is the inherent weakness of coalition warfare. The whole point of the Arabs such as the Syrians participating in the first place was to cause such political problems. We couldn’t effectively communicate with them, operate with them, and they contributed very little militarily. But they could make sure we didn’t do what it takes to finish the job. Who in their right mind would have thought the Assad regime would be gung ho to topple a brutal dictator, which is what we should have done. Not going to Berlin to end WWI led to WWII.

    We should never had given any respect to Muslim holidays. They don’t respect ours. We should have aggressively enforced our rights under the Law Of Armed Conflict (LOAC). The LOAC makes it quite clear that if an enemy militarizes sites that normally should be respected and off the target list, then the enemy has committed a war crime and those now lawful sites are back on the target list. Such as hospitals and mosques.

    What we saw as compassion and foolishly projected our enemies would see as compassion they saw as weakness. We need (but I know we won’t) to understand this and operate accordingly. A great first step would be to stop taking advice from the enemy. That’s insane. Because when we dance to their tune, that’s showing real weakness. And that’s the real recruiting tool. Not Trump’s rhetoric or any so-called travel ban or GITMO. Obama’s talk (and actions, such as replenishing the enemy in the field with some of their most effective commanders) only led them to believe they could Obama to release the Blind Sheikh. Abd el Rahman is not held GITMO. He’s in a Supermax in Colorado.

    The’s jihadis don’t care where we hold their comrades in arms as prisoners. They’re angry we hold them at all.

    Notice in the context of the GWOT I only talked about the Bush administration. I never held any hope that the Obama would operate effectively. Not because I didn’t think he understood that what we consider compassionate, they see as weakness. I believe he did understand that. And he operated the way he did because he wanted our enemies to see us as weak, and our allies would see us as shaky at best. It’s also why he really did weaken us militarily. He said as a candidate that not only would he end the wars, he’d end the bad habits that kept getting us into war. What were those bad habits? Having a powerful military, being able to intimidate our enemies, and being able to attract allies who were willing to depend on us.

Weakness will be Obama’s true legacy and a particularly difficult one for his successors to overcome. Since Obama was such a pushover it’s only natural that Iran would poke Trump at least a couple of times just to gauge his squish.

I wonder if any Jim Croce’s songs have been translated into Arabic?

you don’t tug on superman’s cape
You don’t spit into the wind /
you don’t pull the mask off that old lone ranger
And you don’t mess around with Jim

Until the world (and us) figures out if Trump is sane or insane, it be best not to be a tuggin’ on his cape.

“UN resolution 2231, adopted after the deal was signed, specifically states that Iran cannot conduct ballistic missile tests. Iran shot back saying that these missiles do not count since they cannot “carry a nuclear warhead.””

They count. The whole point of banning all ballistic missile tests is so the experience they develop through such testing does not lead to a ballistic missile that can carry a nuclear warhead.