Tag: iran

In a move reminiscent of the early stages of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the U.S. Army has compiled a new deck of cards. This time around, however, the deck doesn’t include the top-men of the Baathist party and Iraqi military and intelligence apparatus, but the more important weapons systems in the Iranian arsenal. According to the […]

Editor’s note: The heightened tensions with Iran offer an opportunity to examine the ups and downs of an undeclared conflict that has been going on for over 40 years. This falls into the light category.  When propaganda efforts go wrong, the effect can be hilarious indeed. Last year, as the Iranian government was celebrating the […]

The world reacted with horror over the mistaken shootdown of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 by the Iranians. The shootdown killed 176 people including 82 Iranians. What made that tragedy even worse was the fact that Flight 752 had just taken off from Tehran’s international airport.  This highlighted a common problem among disasters of this […]

Unidentified aircraft pounded Iranian-backed militias on Friday in Syria, near the border with Iraq. Eight militiamen were killed by the strikes, Iraqi officials reported.  The targets were two trucks carrying ballistic missiles. This latest attack comes at a time when tensions between the United States and Iran are very high after a series of escalating […]

The same night that a U.S. drone killed Major General Qassem Soleimani, an almost simultaneous targeted strike took place in Yemen. Its target was Abdul Reza Shahlai, a senior Quds Force operative. The drone missile missed, resulting in the escape of Shahlai, who continues to remain at large. Abdul Reza Shahlai is a senior Quds […]

Following President Donald Trump’s decision to order a drone strike and kill Iran’s General Qassem Soleimani, there was considerable debate on whether or not the action was legal. But what about Iran’s response? Sovereignty A complicating factor is location. When the United States killed Soleimani in Baghdad, the Iraqi government denounced it as a violation […]

Considering the current status of events in the Middle East I believe that the threat level to U.S. Embassies to be moderate to low. Embassies are fairly hard targets these days, considering the steps which have been taken to increase their security since the last major attack on a U.S. Diplomatic establishment. The last such […]

The missile strike conducted by the Iranians on the United States’ bases in Iraq as retaliation against the United States for the drone airstrike on January 3 that killed Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani, Commander of the Quds Force, may have claimed unintended victims: Pentagon and intelligence officials increasingly believe that the airliner that took […]

Unfortunately, if we had such a talented general or leader, it would be difficult to identify him or her, because we have a system that is institutional in nature. But it works better than any other.

Over 40-years ago, Iranian militants seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, and took 98 hostages. The majority of them would be held for 444 days until they would be freed just before Ronald Reagan became President.  The events that unfolded during the crisis would put in motion the creation of the United States Special […]

After the Iranian missile attack on the joint U.S./Iraqi bases, many are wondering what happens next. And then, will the U.S. still be forced to leave Iraq, after Iraqi lawmakers passed a non-binding resolution to kick out American troops from the country?  First of all, some of what will transpire will have to do with […]

Is this it? Is this all you can conjure, Iran? That’s what everyone must have thought this morning. The Iranian response to the killing of Major General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the secretive Quds Force and arguably one of the most powerful men in Iran and the Middle East, was feeble, to say the […]