Iran: Pulling back from the brink

 Today is one year since the murder of Gen. Soleimani

Steven Ben-Noon of Israeli News Live has been updating about events in the Middle East

Iran Evacuates Commanders From Iraq

Trump Follows the Advice of the Joint Chiefs on Iran

From Reuters

Iran's Zarif urges Trump to avoid Israel 'trap'

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif urged U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday not to be “trapped” by an alleged Israeli plan to provoke a war through attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq.

He issued the warning on the anniversary of the U.S. killing of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani by a drone strike in Iraq. There was no immediate comment by Israel.

Washington blames Iran-backed militia for regular rocket attacks on U.S. facilities in Iraq, including near the U.S. embassy. No known Iran-backed groups have claimed responsibility.

https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-iran-israel-zarif/irans-foreign-minister-urges-trump-to-avoid-israel-trap-to-provoke-war-idUSKBN2970E9

A top military adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has warned the United States to avoid making any mistakes, saying Iran is capable of striking US aircraft carriers so hard that they would go down like submarines.

“Iran is capable of turning US aircraft carriers into submarines in a few hours,” Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi warned, but at the same time he expressed hope that nothing would happen in the final weeks of US President Donald Trump’s presidency.

“We will never initiate a war, but we will respond decisively and with our utmost power and readiness if anyone attacks Iran,” said Rahim Safavi, who is a former commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).

The general made the remarks as Iran marks the first anniversary of the martyrdom of its world-renowned commander, Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated in a US drone raid on January 3, 2020, while in Baghdad in an official visit. Soleimani’s Iraqi trenchmate Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Iraq’s Hashd al-Sha’abi anti-terror force, was also martyred in the Trump-ordered terrorist attack.

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/01/02/642085/General-Iran-can-turn-US-carriers-into-submarines

Iran's President Rouhani Accused Of Threatening Trump With Assassination

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/irans-president-rouhani-accused-threatening-trump-assassination

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani is being accused of threatening President Trump with assassination in a speech he gave this past week ahead of the one-year anniversary of the killing of popular Iranian General Qassem Soleimani on Jan. 3rd, 2020 in Baghdad.

It all appears to be based on a mistranslation from the Farsi of Rouhani's words while he addressed a cabinet session on Wednesday. In a widely shared article The Washington Times quoted the Iranian president as saying, "Trump will soon be dead." The report claimed that this was a clear death threat, also given Rouhani made a comparison to the Saddam Hussein's demise. 

But Iran's leaders are now slamming this as but more "anti-Iran bigotry" designed to escalate tensions as a pretext for preemptive military action against the Islamic Republic. Tehran has called The Washington Times report a deliberate mistranslation based in "fake news". 

This isn't the first time that a mistranslation of the words of Iran's leadership had led to increased tensions. 

In a 2005 speech then President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad famously declared Iran's goal was to "wipe Israel off the map". However, this has since been subject of fierce debate and was largely debunked: 

Arash Norouzi of the Mossadegh Project noted in 2007 that Ahmadinejad "never... uttered the words 'map,' 'wipe out,' or even 'Israel'" in his statement.  Rather, he argued, the translation should have been that "this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time."  (Both The Washington Post and The Atlantic came up with similarly variant translations.)

This is a key difference, Mr. Norouzi argued, because Ahmadinejad used the "vanish from the page of time" idiom elsewhere in his speech: when describing the governments of the Shah of Iran, the Soviet Union, and Saddam Hussein.  While war and revolution were involved in the three regimes' collapse, none of them, Norouzi argued, were "wiped off the map."  Rather, they underwent regime change.  This suggests in turn, he said, that Ahmadinejad was calling for regime change in Israel, not nuclear genocide.  Juan Cole, another critic of the speech's translation, compared Ahmadinejad's statement to Reagan-era calls for the end of the Soviet Union.

Critics of the mistranslation also point out the former president had been referencing Zionism as a political movement as well.

The "wipe Israel of the map" words have been used endlessly by hawks arguing for preemptive action against Iran to prevent their achieving nuclear weapons capabilities. 

Israeli media

As Iran commemorates one year since the assassination of Quds Force Commander Maj.-Gen. Qasem Soleimani on Sunday, the IDF prepares for a possible attack by Tehran, a senior military source told The Jerusalem Post.

The military is bracing for an attack not only by Iran itself but from its proxies, in what the army calls the “second circle countries” such as Iraq or Yemen.

The source noted that at this stage, the IDF has held discussions on the planning level and reviewed possible scenarios of different attacks.

In mid-December, Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi warned Iran and its proxies that if they try to carry out attacks against Israel or Israeli targets, they will be attacked by the IDF and pay a heavy price.

“We are hearing more and more threats against Israel coming from Iran,” he said. “If Iran and its partners... attack the State of Israel, they will [pay] a heavy price.

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/iran-accuses-israel-of-trying-to-provoke-war-by-attacking-americans-654042

Tehran Prosecutor Ali Alqasi-Mehr says United Kingdom-based security company G4S collaborated with US forces in the assassination of Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani by providing the US with information about the top Iranian anti-terror commander.  

“One of the important and significant issues in this case is the role of the British company G4S in the assassination of the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), which was responsible for flight securing at Baghdad airport, and the agents of that company provided information to the terrorists about General Soleimani and his companions upon their arrival,” the official said on Wednesday.

The judicial official made the remarks during a legal and judicial follow-up session on the assassination case of General Soleimani.

He added that the six countries of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Qatar, Jordan and Kuwait have been given warrants from Iran to identify and arrest the culprits.

A committee has also been set up to track down the whereabouts of American terrorist suspects outside the United States to arrest and extradite them, he added.

He said that the US air base in Germany was also involved in the exchange of information among the American drones that were involved in the assassination of General Soleimani, noting letters rogatory have been issued in pursuing the case.

US terrorists assassinated General Soleimani, along with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy head of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), and their companions by targeting their vehicle outside Baghdad International Airport on January 3.

The cowardly act of terror was carried out under the direction of US President Donald Trump, with the Pentagon taking responsibility for the strike.

General Soleimani is viewed by the world’s freedom-seeking people as the key figure in defeating Daesh, the world’s most notorious terrorist group, in the Middle East battles.

‘Gen. Soleimani’s blood united our region in opposing US arrogance’

The Iranian Foreign Ministry in a post on Twitter on Wednesday said that the blood of General Soleimani “united” the Middle East region in “opposing US arrogance,” adding, “The anger & unity still stand.”

“Last yr, across the region, from #Iran & Iraq to India & Pakistan, ppl showed disgust for murderers of Gen Soleimani. His blood united our region in opposing US arrogance & presence. A real response to recklessness. The anger & unity still stand,” said the tweet with the hashtag #WillNeverForgetWillNeverForgive.

https://www.veteranstoday.com/2021/01/02/iran-now-claims-british-intel-helped-trump-kill-soleimani-party-in-baghdad/