BANGING THE WAR DRUMS
Iran Cleric Warns U.S. Persian Gulf Fleet: ‘One Missile Will Destroy You’
May 12, 2019 — Breitbart.com reports: “A U.S. Navy force gathering in the Persian Gulf could be entirely destroyed with just one missile, an Iranian cleric warned late Friday.
‘Their billion [-dollar] fleet can be destroyed with one missile,’ Ayatollah Yousef Tabatabai Nejad was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency after Friday prayers in Isfahan, according to Reuters.
‘If they attempt any move, they will… [face] dozens of missiles because at that time [government] officials won’t be in charge to act cautiously, but instead things will be in the hands of our beloved leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei]’ added Nejad, who is the supreme leader’s representative in Isfahan.
The threat comes after the White House announcement last Sunday it would send the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group and B-52 bombers into the Persian Gulf to counter Tehran. The Lincoln on Thursday passed through the Suez Canal on its way to its new assignment, as Breitbart News reported…” (More bragging and blustering from Iran. In 2016 the Global Firepower list puts the United States as the number 1 military power in the world. Israel ranks as number 16, and Iran is ranked as number 21. On May 19, 2019 President Trump tweeted: “If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again!” See the next three reports.)
U.S. sending B-52s to Middle East against Iran ‘threat’
May 8, 2019 — SpaceDaily.com reports: “The US Air Force is deploying massive B-52 Stratofortress bombers to the Gulf in response to an alleged possible plan by Iran to attack American forces in the region, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
Several nuclear-capable B-52s are heading to the region along with an aircraft carrier task force following what the Defense Department called ‘recent and clear indications that Iranian and Iranian proxy forces were making preparations to possibly attack US forces.’
‘The deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a bomber task force are considered a prudent step in response to indications of heightened Iranian readiness to conduct offensive operations against US forces and our interests,’ said acting Pentagon spokesman Charles Summers in a statement.
‘We emphasize the White House statement that we do not seek war with the Iranian regime, but we will defend US personnel, our allies and our interests in the region.’…”
U.S. sends naval strike group as tensions rise with Iran
May 12, 2019 — SpaceDaily.com reports: “The United States is deploying an amphibious assault ship and a Patriot missile battery to bolster an aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers already sent to the Gulf, ratcheting up pressure Saturday on archfoe Iran.
In response to alleged threats from Iran, the USS Arlington, which transports marines, amphibious vehicles, conventional landing craft and rotary aircraft, and the Patriot air defence system will join the Abraham Lincoln carrier group, the Pentagon announced Friday.
The carrier and a B-52 bomber task force were ordered towards the Gulf, as Washington reiterated that intelligence reports suggested Iran was planning some sort of attack in the region.
CENTCOM, the US forces for the Middle East and Afghanistan, said Friday on Twitter that the B-52 bombers arrived at the area of operations on May 8, without saying where they had landed.
US President Donald Trump’s national security advisor John Bolton has said the deployment aimed to send a ‘clear and unmistakable’ message to Iran about any attack against the US or its partners in the region…”
‘U.S. won’t dare attack Iran’
May 10, 2019 — Israel National News reports: “Iran will not engage in talks with the US, a senior Iranian official said Friday, adding that the United States would never ‘dare’ to attack the Islamic republic.
Yadollah Javani, the deputy leader of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps’ political bureau, told the Iranian Tasnim outlet that Iran will not negotiate with the US, according to a report released Friday.
‘We will not negotiate. There will be no negotiations on any issue with the US,’ Javani said, adding ‘and the US will not dare to attack Iran.’
‘We will not surrender.’
Javani went on to say that Iran was not suffering the kind of ‘internal disarray’ he suggested the US believed would set in following its restoration of sanctions on Tehran…”
Steinitz: Iran may attack Israel if U.S. standoff escalates
May 12, 2019 — The Jerusalem Post reports: “Iran could fire missiles at Israel or activate its proxies Hezbollah or Islamic Jihad against Israel if the current Iranian-US tensions continue to escalate, Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said on Sunday.
Steinitz’s words in a Ynet television interview come amid mounting tensions between Washington and Tehran that in recent days has led to increased US economic and military pressure to get Iran to return to the negotiation table and re-negotiate the nuclear deal, while Iran has said it will increase its uranium enrichment and continues to rattle its own saber against the US.
‘Things are undoubtedly heating up, and Iran – over the last few weeks – has come under ‘atomic’ pressure,’ said Steinitz, a member of the security cabinet. ‘The economic sanctions are breaking the neck of the Iranian economy and there is now an additional, even more powerful wave of American sanctions. We are starting to see the Iranians lose their balance.’
Up until Steinitz’s comments, senior Israeli officials have remained silent over the last week as the situation between Iran and the US escalated, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s only reference to the situation being at a Remembrance Day ceremony last Wednesday when he said Israel would not let Iran get nuclear weapons…” (Israel will never be destroyed. God has declared His love for Israel from its very beginning: “And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born. And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live… Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil” – Ezekiel 16:4 – 6; 9. Deuteronomy 7:6-8 states: “For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” Despite the rantings and ravings of the world: “…let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance” – Psalm 83:4, God has promised: “…I will give them [Israel] an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off” – Isaiah 56:5. See the next two reports.)
Report: Israel won’t join US-Iran war unless attacked
May 20, 2019 — Israel National News reports: “Israel will not join a war against Iran unless attacked by Iran or its regional proxies, Israel Hayom reported.
The site quoted an Independent Arabia report noting that Israeli security officials met with their US counterparts to discuss the recent tensions between the US and Iran and to share sensitive intelligence, including on Iran’s nuclear weapons program.
At the meeting, the Israelis emphasized that their country
would only join an Iran-US war if they were attacked by either Iran or its
proxies…”
‘Israel won’t let Iran get nuclear weapons’
May 8, 2019 — Israel National News reports: “Israel will prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Wednesday in Jerusalem.
The Prime Minister made the comments during his address at the annual Yom HaZikaron Israeli memorial day ceremony at the central military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem Wednesday morning.
‘This morning, on my way here, I heard that Iran intends to pursue its nuclear program,’ Netanyahu said. ‘We will not allow Iran to achieve nuclear weaponry. We will continue to fight those who would kill us.’
Netanyahu’s comments came after Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, said Tuesday that his country would reduce some ‘voluntary’ commitments within its nuclear deal…”
Islamic Jihad: We are preparing rockets
May 9, 2019 — Israel National News reports: “Abu Hamza, spokesman for the Islamic Jihad’s ‘military wing’, the Al-Quds Brigades, said on Wednesday that the Palestinian ‘resistance organizations’ would start from the point at which the last round of the conflict ended should the ‘enemy’ refuse to implement the understandings.
He stressed that the Palestinian ‘resistance organizations’, headed by the Al-Quds Brigades, are closely following the implementation of the understandings by the ‘enemy’ and that their hand is always on the trigger.
Abu Hamza added that immediately after the ceasefire, the military production units began working to replenish their rocket arsenal.
‘The enemy wanted to reach, through the Cairo negotiations, a situation of calm in exchange for calm, but the leadership of the resistance organizations refused to do so,’ Abu Hamza said, adding that the rocket and anti-tank missiles forced Israel to accept the Palestinian conditions for a ceasefire…” (The nations may say: “…Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance” – Psalm 83:4. It won’t work. God declares: “… I will give them [Israel] an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off” – Isaiah 56:5. See the next two reports.)
Islamic Jihad leader predicts war this summer
May 8, 2019 — Israel National News reports: “Islamic Jihad leader Ziad al-Nakhala said on Tuesday that he believed that a war would break out between Israel and Gaza this summer because of the intention to ‘disarm the resistance in Gaza.’
He made the comments in an interview with the Lebanese Al-Mayadeen TV, translated by Channel 13 News.
‘We decided to fire at an IDF officer and a female soldier last Friday in cooperation with Hamas, in response to the killing of the demonstrators at the return marches,’ said Nakhala. ‘The Egyptians did not like the fact that this was happening while we were in Cairo. I, together with Yahya Sinwar, decided to continue the response. I say that the last round of escalation was only an exercise in live ammunition ahead of the larger battle to take place soon.’
The Islamic Jihad leader further claimed that if the previous round of escalation had continued, rocket fire on Tel Aviv would have taken place ‘within hours.’…”
Hamas, Islamic Jihad: ‘We’re close to open war with Israel’
May 5, 2019 — The Jerusalem Post reports: “Defiant Hamas and Islamic Jihad officials said on Sunday that they don’t rule out the possibility that the current round of fighting in the Gaza Strip could lead to an all-out war with Israel.
The warning came as leaders of the two Palestinian groups continued their discussions in Cairo with senior Egyptian intelligence officials on ways of ending the current round of fighting with Israel.
Unconfirmed reports on Sunday evening claimed that Hamas has indicated its readiness for a ceasefire with Israel. Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip did not comment on the reports.
Islamic Jihad spokesperson Musab al-Braim said that the ‘resistance was on the threshold of a new phase in repelling the [Israeli] aggression that could lead to an open war.’ He said that light of the continued ‘aggression on our people and the targeting of children, houses and the implementation of the policy of assassinations, we are on the threshold of this phase, and we will not have mercy on this enemy.’…”