Newsweek's February cover story asked a question that is now more than a hypothetical...
The problem, say a wide variety of experts, is that for every escalation the Trump administration and its predecessors have levied on Iran, the regime has responded with its own threats—and violence. And no one, on either side, seems to know where the increasing tempo of attacks and counterattacks is headed.ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty
President Ronald Reagan designated the regime"a state sponsor of terrorism" and in 1981 threw his weight behind Iraq's invasion of Iran in a war that lasted nearly a decade and devastated the country. After Khomeini died in 1989, his successor, Ayatollah Ali .
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks at the Free Iran-The Alternative gathering in Paris on June 30, 2018.According to European authorities, Iran schemed to place a powerful bomb amid the attendees. The plot was discovered when German authorities arrested Assadollah Asadi, an Iranian accredited as a diplomat in Vienna. They said Asadi had delivered 500 grams of the powerful explosive TATP to two Iranian-born Belgians in Antwerp.
Had the White House been able to pin the plot on Iranian leaders, its response"would've almost certainly been kinetic"—a military strike, says a senior former Obama administration national security official, asking for anonymity in exchange for discussing such a sensitive issue. Then, between 2009 and 2013, dozens of CIA sources were caught and executed in Iran due to a lapse in the agency's clandestine communications with agents, according to Yahoo News. Yet another flap erupted in 2011, when Iran announced the arrest of 12 alleged CIA spies. The disaster was caused by the agency"operating a lower threshold of quality control in terms of agent recruitment and management," Abedin wrote at the time.
A military strike doesn't seem in the cards, at least for now—unless Trump wants another rupture with the NATO alliance. While the allies have voiced deep annoyance with Iranian plots, they are simultaneously struggling to hold the nuclear accord together without the United States, going so far as to set up an alternative payment system to evade the new U.S. sanctions and trade with Tehran. In the face of threats from the Trump administration, its prospects are uncertain.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
The conflict between America and Iran intensifies in IraqAmerican officials are seething at the Iraqi government’s willingness to rebuke them while giving a free hand to Iranian-backed groups
Read more »
Iran government played a direct role in instigating U.S. embassy protests in Iraq, intelligence officials sayTwo intelligence officials speaking to Newsweek said Iran helped to instigate the violent demonstrations in Iraq, where both Washington and Tehran's interference has been increasingly questioned.
Read more »
Who are Iran-backed militia Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq?The militia that besieged the US consulate in Baghdad has been targeting the US since its foundation and since it was designated a terrorist group by Washington.
Read more »
Iran says powerful general killed in US airstrike in IraqBAGHDAD (AP) — An airstrike killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran’s elite Quds Force and architect of its regional security apparatus, at Baghdad’s international airport Friday, Iranian state...
Read more »
U.S. troops fire tear gas at pro-Iran protesters in IraqU.S. troops fired tear gas on Wednesday to disperse pro-Iran protesters who were gathered outside the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad for a second day.
Read more »