Iran’s top military commander on Sunday issued a new warning that the
entire region will be engulfed in conflict if Iran is attacked…but…but it’s Super Bowl Sunday!!
“While being prepared, we genuinely have no desire to see the outbreak of a regional war,” Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi told a gathering of air force and air defence commanders and personnel.
“Even though aggressors will be the target of the flames of regional war, this will push back the advancement and development of the region by years, and its repercussions will be borne by the warmongers in the US and the Zionist regime,” he said in reference to Israel.
According to Mousavi, Iran “has the necessary power and preparedness for a long-term war with the US” after the Super Bowl, but not before or during.
en.wikipedia.org
Iran is witnessing tense time and threats of a massive US military strike. But the Islamic Republic has not overcome anti-government protests that shook the nation, denouncing the collapse of the national currency, soaring prices and economic hardship.
Some desperate Iranians want US intervention, but others worry that it would not achieve the peace protesters ultimately want.
www.bbc.com
State television continues to broadcast “confessions” of Iranians arrested during the nationwide protests, many of whom are accused by the state of working in line with the interests of foreign powers but international human rights organisations and foreign-based opposition groups accuse state forces of being behind the unprecedented killings during the protests, which were carried out mostly on the nights of January 8 and 9.
The Iranian government claims
3,117 people were killed, but the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) says it has documented nearly 7,000 fatalities and is investigating more than 11,600 cases. The United Nations special rapporteur on Iran, Mati Sato, said more than 20,000 may have been killed as information trickles out despite
heavy internet filtering.
Al Jazeera cannot “independently” verify these figures.
One month after thousands of protesters were killed across Iran, authorities maintain that US and Israel are to blame.
www.aljazeera.com
Araghchi said in the Saturday interview with Al Jazeera that recent discussions with the U.S. “were only about Iran’s nuclear program, and the Americans did not introduce any issue beyond that.”
en.wikipedia.org
A large number of schoolchildren and university students were also reportedly among tens of thousands arrested during and in the aftermath of the nationwide protests. The Ministry of Education claimed last week that it did not know how many schoolchildren were arrested, but could confirm that all have since been released.
The Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations on Sunday released the four-minute video below, titled “200 empty school desks”, which shows the schoolchildren and teenagers confirmed killed during the protests. Many were accompanied by their parents when killed.
One month after thousands of protesters were killed across Iran, authorities maintain that US and Israel are to blame.
www.aljazeera.com
“Of course, yesterday’s talks were held indirectly through Oman, but our prior agreement was that we would speak only about the nuclear issue, and that agreement was met yesterday during the negotiations.”
This will wind up about roughly twilight Monday morning in Iran. President Donald Trump is not expected to attend
Super Bowl LX this weekend, but he'll still be part of game day events on television.
Iran tensions escalated on Sunday, with foreign reports over the past two days citing US carrier movements, bomber activity at Diego Garcia, and reinforced air defenses across the Gulf, according to multiple regional and American media accounts.
The moves, reported since late Friday, came as US officials and regional militaries coordinated on contingency planning for possible Iranian retaliation. No official US confirmation was available on the reported deployment of guided-missile submarines.
There was close to absolute certainty that Trump would attack on January 14, because he pretty much told the whole world he would and even issued initial orders for an attack, until he changed his mind and didn't attack.
Then there was close to absolute certainty that he would attack on January 26 when the long-awaited
US Lincoln aircraft carrier group finally arrived from the Asian theater – until he didn't, etc…
Finally, there was slightly less certainty, but still quite a lot, that he would attack around Wednesday of last week during the few hours after US and Israeli sources leaked that the talks with Iran for Friday had been cancelled – until Washington confirmed that the negotiations were back on.
When Trump met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on December 29, the US president seemed to take it for granted that the regime in Tehran would kill large numbers of its people and that there was not much to do about it.
When he later set a red line that he would attack if the Islamic Republic followed through on murdered masses of its people, and the ayatollahs ignored his red-line
killing between 5,000-30,000 on January 8-9, he did nothing.
His threat five days later came only after many videos and negative media coverage started coming out, causing him embarrassment. But his heart was never in it to save the Iranian people, or certainly not to put American lives at risk to do so.
There was a short period when he thought knocking off and controlling the Iranian regime would be as easy as in Venezuela. But as soon as he realized that was not the case, he started making noises about negotiating a new nuclear deal.
(YouTube & Iran (So Far Away) - Official Music Video)
moderndiplomacy.eu
