Qassem Soleimani
The newspaper’s homepage was replaced with an illustration recalling Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani and threatening the Dimona nuclear facility.
The July drone strike on the “Mercer Street” oil tanker, for example, was carried out directly by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; IRGC Quds Force Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani would have insisted on a proxy strike instead.
The leaked interview, which has set off a storm both in Iran and abroad, starkly illustrates Iran’s regional order of priorities and the limited role of diplomacy in determining it.
An Iranian government spokesman called the leak “a conspiracy against the government.”
“I have never been able to tell a military commander to do something in order to aid diplomacy,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was reported as saying in a seven-hour interview.
A new phase in Iranian activity after the assassination of Gen. Qassem Soleimani: Iran steps up to control northern Yemen with the close supervision of its new “ambassador,” who specializes in the manufacture and launching of ballistic and anti-aircraft missiles.
Statements by Mahmoud al-Zahar that Qassem Soleimani transferred bundles of cash to Gaza in 2006 is undermining Tehran’s propaganda campaign on the anniversary of the Quds Force commander’s assassination.
Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami hints that the lack of international response to the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh could lead Tehran to retaliate for the attack.
Former defense official Col. (res.) Udi Evental tells JNS that Tehran’s announcement that it has begun enriching uranium to a higher level is part of its signaling to the Biden administration.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah says the terrorist organization is watching its step during the last few weeks of Trump’s presidency, calling him “angry” and “crazy.”
Tehran is also in talks to sell several domestically produced weapons systems, says Iranian Defense Minister Gen. Amir Hatami.
Iran’s Supreme Leader predicts that American hostility towards Tehran would continue after U.S. President Donald Trump leaves office.
