Tag: Turkey

Mysterious ‘ghost attack’ fires and explosions continue to plague Iran

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By Susan Keating

‘They’re happening too much to be a coincidence,’ exiled Iranian says.

As “ghost attack” fires and explosions reportedly continue within Iran, outside observers and the Tehran regime are speculating on who is behind the mysterious events.  

Since last month, blasts and blazes have been reported at Iranian sites, including an explosion that killed 19 people at a medical clinic on June 30, plus fires that ravaged a shipyard and Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility earlier this month. 

The incidents continued through the weekend, when an explosion wracked a power plant in Isfahan province, and fire consumed a cellophane factory in Tabriz. 

“They’re happening too much to be coincidence,” Iranian exile Amir Rad, who lives in Europe, told Just the News. “Someone is behind all of this. But who?”

While Tehran has maintained that the incidents were accidents or the result of wear and tear on facilities, sources have been cited in the western and Middle Eastern media as blaming various culprits: Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency; the United States; and the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK).

Following the July 2 explosion in Natanz, focus centered on two potential sources, the MEK and Israel.

The MEK was not involved, the group’s spokesman told Just the News.

“This was not carried out by the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran,” Shahin Gobadi wrote in an email.

An Israeli government official expressed unease about Iran while on an official visit to Hungary on Monday.

“I expressed our concern to the Hungarian Foreign Minister about Iran’s incessant violations of its nuclear commitments,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabi Ashkenazi said in a statement. 

Ashkenazi did not, however, address charges and rumors that Israel is the “ghost” wreaking havoc in Iran.

Earlier this month, Tehran reportedly challenged the Israel theory, discounting claims that Tel Aviv launched a cyber attack that caused the facility to catch fire.

“The reports about cyberattacks on energy stations in the country are false,” and no intentional damage was caused to the sites, Iranian power industry spokesman Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi told a local news agency.

I find this interesting. Hope you do as well.The Geopolitics of the Middle East are amazing.

Was America’s secretive ‘ninja’ missile used again in Syria?

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Other recent uses of the “ninja” weapon include a July 18 strike, June 20 and June 15 strike.

By SETH J. FRANTZMAN   JULY 20, 2020 20:34

The secretive “flying ginsu” or ninja missile was used against in Syria on Monday, according to reports. It struck and killed a car allegedly used by a terrorists near Azaz in a Turkish-occupied part of northern Syria.Many extremist groups with ties to ISIS and Al-Qaeda operate in areas Turkey controls in Syria. There was discussion online about whether the impact on the vehicle showed signs of an explosion and may have been another secretive type off warhead. America’s drones officially only carry several types of munitions, but many suggest that they can be equipped with weapons that are still classified.

The vehicle struck by the so-called “ninja missile” looked to be a small white truck and several people were said to be killed. It happened near Ikhtaimlat. This road is about 25 km from the Turkish border town of Kilis. The secretive R9-X is similar to a Hellfire missile which is about 1.6 meters long, similar to the size of a person. The R9-X replaces the usual Hellfire explosive warhead with “swords” that pop-out like blades and cause the target to be crushed and mashed.It is designed to kill people such that only one or two individuals in a care are killed and others survive. In this case the missile penetrated the drivers side and what was left of the driver was found near the truck. Blood smatters could be seen. These scenes are usually gruesome.The name of one of the dead men was given as Shuja’a Muhammad born in 1987. But the ID of the person whose body parts were found may not be the real person who was killed because sometimes people use fake identification. Videos showed civil defense volunteers, known as White Helmets, picking up parts of the corpse.Other recent uses of the “ninja” weapon include a July 18 strike, June 20 and June 15 strike. Subsequent to that some images of pieces of the missiles were shown off on June 14 and the missile was used around December 4, 2019 also. The missile first came to the public’s attention in May last year.

Large fire at oil pipeline in South Iran

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Video circulating in local and social media Saturday night show a large fire blazing at an oil pipeline in southern Iran’s Khuzestan Province/ It comes after a series of devastating explosions and fires at Iran’s most sensitive nuclear and other military sites, the latest being fires on seven vessels at the Iranian port of Bushehr. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

There is a lot going on in Iran the past couple of weeks. Not sure who if anyone is doing the damage. The Middle East is the “always on”, hot spot of the world. Iran is coming to the forefront as the nation to watch at the present time. Trouble will always brew in that region. Debka File

At least 7 Iranian ships in flames at Bushehr port. New US warning

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The types of the seven vessels on fire on Wednesday, July 15, and what caused the blazes were not revealed in the first official report from Tehran. The incident followed a string of mysterious explosions at Iran’s nuclear, military and missile production sites ongoing since late June.

DEBKAfile: If this suspected campaign of sabotage has been extended to encompass Iran’s navy, it would be a serious escalation, amounting to a threat to Iran’s claim to control the Persian Gulf and its waters.

Bushehr province is also home to Iran’s only nuclear power plant.
A day earlier, on Tuesday, US Central Command Chef Gen. Kenneth McKenzie warned Tehran that “any malign activities in the Gulf would bear a high cost.” In an interview sponsored by the State Department, he reminded Iran of “the events of January” when a US drone killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani. “So we are postured and will continue to be postured in the region, working closely with all our partners, all our friends n the region, to ensure that we’re ready and Iran sees very clearly what would be the high cost of any malign activity on their part,” the US Centcom chief stressed.

The general was asked if the Iranian regime was truly deterred by the killing of Soleimani or whether, before making its move, it was waiting out the upcoming UN Security Council vote on extending the arms embargo or the US presidential election. He replied that Washington had established “red lines” that might not have been visible before. The UN vote was a factor, he said, adding “But to be honest with you, it’s very hard to know and understand exactly what Iran’s thinking is.”

Iran

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Iran is under attack, and evidence is mounting that the long arm of Israel is behind the recent destruction of key Iranian nuclear and missile facilities. from Israel Today

Iran Nuclear Facility

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Another explosion in an Iranian nuclear facility, this time at Natanz hardened fuel enrichment plant. The Iranians reported of a minor malfunction however there are reports of a much bigger damage.     @BeholdIsrael – Amir Tsarfati reports    
It is always curious to me when damage happens at an Iranian Nuclear facility.  Could Israel be taking care of things in a covert way?  If so, more power to them.  Iran’s capacity to make nukes must never happen.  End of the world anyone?  Just my thoughts.  I support Israel!!

Key congressman seeks probe into why 80 percent of U.S. foreign investor visas going to China

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House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-Penn.) have asked the an investigative arm of Congress to investigate China’s involvement in America’s EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program.

In a letter Monday to the Comptroller General of the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the lawmakers said the program was meant to encourage foreign capital investment and job creation in America but it appears it is being exploited by the Chinese Communist Party.

“Although the EB-5 program’s goal of stimulating capital investment and job creation in the United States is laudable, it has become clear in recent years that the CCP may be abusing the program to gain access to U.S. permanent residency for their members,” the letter says. “Between 2012 and 2018, 80 percent of the nearly 10,000 EB-5 visas available each year went to Chinese-born investors.”