The Ignorance of Fighting Against Iran

US would need ‘one million soldiers’ to invade Iran, warns Brit admiral

US FORCES would need at least one million soldiers to defeat and occupy Iran in what could be another Iraq War-style quagmire, a top Brit admiral has warned.

US would win war against Iran in ‚two strikes‘ says Senator

Iran and the US have been at loggerheads in recent weeks as Washington dispatched warships and warplanes to the region citing “credible threats’” from Tehran.

Admiral Lord West – the former First Sea Lord of the Royal navy – gave a dire assessment of the potential conflict as tempers flare int he Middle East.



It comes amid disputed reports the US is dusting off Iraq War-era plans to deploy 120,000 troops to the region.

He urged the West to do more to come to the table with Iran or face the possibility of a “nuclear war in the Middle East”.

Iran is restarting its missile programme in response to US sanctions would started a new arms race with the UAE and Saudi Arabia, the admiral warned. 

“You would need a million men”

Admiral Lord West

Admiral Lord West told Daily Star Online: “I think Donald Trump himself doesn’t want there to be a conflict – but there are powerful factions in Israel, Saudi Arabia and the US who believe an attack would be a good thing. 

“This includes John Bolton. They think they would destroy the Iranian armed forces, there would be regime change, and all the garden would be rosy. 

“The only problem with that is – they would be completely wrong.”

He added: “They don’t want to invade Iran, they went there to be a nice fold over into a new regime. 

“And if you don’t get that, then you get this hostile regime causing mayhem in the region with terrorist proxies and missiles.

“Invading Iran, taking it over, and then coercing into becoming a different sort of country, you would need a million men. “

BREAKING POINT: Iran has accused the US of waging a ‚psychological war‘ on them (Pic: GETTY)

Admiral West – who was the last man to leave the sinking HMS Ardent during the Falklands War – described sabre rattling from both sides as “extremely dangerous”. 

US forces have sent aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and a group of B-52 bombers to the Middle East as they publicly cite an imminent danger posed by Iran.

British general Chris Ghika undermined the US warnings on Iran, saying there is “no increased threat” – as Washington evacuated “non-emergency” staff from its missions in Iraq. 

US Central Command however contradicted Major General Ghia – saying his comments “run counter to identified credible threats available to intelligence from the US and allies”. 

Tehran has reportedly moved missile boats in the Persian Gulf, and the US suspect the regime of being behind sabotage attacks on four oil tankers. 

Royal Navy hero Admiral West said while Iran is a “bloody nuisance” – US politicians are making a mistake in thinking it would a “quick war” like “lancing a boil”.

RING OF STEEL: USS Abraham Lincoln and her strike group have moved into the Middle East (Pic: GETTY)

SWOOP: B-52 Bombers have been deployed to Qatar by the US (Pic: GETTY)

WAR HAWKS: Donald Trump is being advised by Iran on John Bolton (Pic: GETTY)

He told Daily Star Online: “If the US and Britain couldn’t beat Iran in a straight bang-on-bang contest they we should all go home.

“But what we can’t do unless we go onto a war footing and having conscription is have a sufficient number of troops to go occupy the country.

“It is such dangerous loose talk, and its all well and good being ‘aren’t we clever, we can shoot down your planes and sink your ships’ – but you haven’t finishing winning the war.

“That what the real problem is and thats what these idiots who are saying lets go to war with Iran don’t understand.

“I don’t think they are clever enough to understand, they know nothing about wars.” 

NAVY HERO: Admiral Lord West was formerly the First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy (Pic: PA)


Admiral West compared a possible conflict to the Iraq War, and feared should the US attack the same failures would happen during “Phase IV”. 

“Phase IV” referred to the stabilisation of a nation after winning the initial engagements.

The invasion of Iraq lasted just over a month, followed by eight years of violence and turmoil.

“The US said they were handling it, but we all know they didn’t have a bloody clue what was happening. Iraq’s in a bloody mess” Admiral West said. 

He added Iranian-funded terrorist would continue to cause chaos in the Middle East.

And there would be the threat of more wide-ranging missile attacks unless all the regime’s secret bases can be knocked out in one swoop.

ON THE MARCH: USS Abraham Lincoln sails down the Suez Canal amid the threat from Iran (Pic: REUTERS)

Admiral West added however he considers Iran’s current regime a “bigger problem” than Iraq in 2003. 

He still however urged caution, adding an attack on Iran could also destabilise the global economy due to the risk to shipping in the Gulf. 

“Until you have destroyed all the Iranian swarm vessels, their mines, their submarines and their aircraft, no one is going to want to take a tanker through there,” he said.

“The impact of the global economy would be huge.”

Urging more talks he called for the US to end “draconian sanctions” that might push Iran toward restarting their nuclear programme. 

FEARS: Iranian president Hassan Rouhani has urged his people to stay strong amid threats (Pic: EPA)

And Admiral West aded should a conflict erupt between the US and Iran, Britain will inevitably be roped into the war. 

Britain will so how have to be ready to defend ourselves and we will be dragged into it.

“Our forces are so folded in with the Americans, and the Iranians will assume we are involved,” he said.

“Britain will have to be ready to defend itself.”

Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has warned Trump is being “pushed towards war” by people around him.

And the US President has said he wants to avoid conflict, saying “I hope note” when asked if the US are going to war with Iran.

Missile Targeted at US Embassy

Saudis Issue a Warning

A top minister addresses Iran

(Newser) – Saudi Arabia does not want war but will not hesitate to defend itself against Iran, a top Saudi diplomat said Sunday, after the kingdom’s energy sector was targeted this past week amid heightened tensions in the Persian Gulf, the AP reports. On Sunday night, a rocket was fired into the Iraqi capital’s heavily fortified Green Zone, landing less than a mile from the US Embassy, further stoking tensions. No casualties were reported in the apparent attack. Adel al-Jubeir, the minister of state for foreign affairs, spoke a week after four oil tankers—two of them Saudi—were targeted in an alleged act of sabotage off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and days after Iran-allied Yemeni rebels claimed a drone attack on a Saudi oil pipeline.

„The kingdom of Saudi Arabia does not want war in the region and does not strive for that … but at the same time, if the other side chooses war, the kingdom will fight this with all force and determination and it will defend itself, its citizens and its interests,“ al-Jubeir told reporters. A senior Iranian military commander was similarly quoted as saying his country is not looking for war. Fears of armed conflict were already running high after the White House ordered warships and bombers to the region earlier this month to counter an alleged, unexplained threat from Iran. The US also has ordered nonessential staff out of its diplomatic posts in Iraq. But President Donald Trump appears to have softened his tone in recent days, saying he expects Iran to seek negotiations with his administration.

The Iran horn quadruples production of enriched uranium

Reports: Iran quadruples production of enriched uranium

(Newser) – Iran quadrupled its uranium-enrichment production capacity amid tensions with the US over Tehran’s atomic program, nuclear officials said Monday, just after President Trump and Iran’s foreign minister traded threats and taunts on Twitter. Iranian officials made a point to stress that the uranium would be enriched only to the 3.67% limit set under the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, making it usable for a power plant but far below what’s needed for an atomic weapon, the AP reports. But by increasing production, Iran soon will go beyond the stockpile limitations set by the accord. Tehran has set a July 7 deadline for Europe to come up with new terms for the deal, or it will enrich closer to weapons-grade levels in a Middle East already on edge. The Trump administration has deployed bombers and an aircraft carrier to the region over still-unspecified threats from Iran.

Already this month, officials in the United Arab Emirates alleged that four oil tankers were damaged in a sabotage attack; Yemeni rebels allied with Iran launched a drone attack on an oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia; and US diplomats relayed a warning that commercial airlines could be misidentified by Iran and attacked, something dismissed by Tehran. A rocket landed Sunday near the US Embassy in the Green Zone of Iraq’s capital of Baghdad, days after nonessential US staff were ordered to evacuate from diplomatic posts in the country. The Iranian enrichment announcement came after local journalists traveled to Natanz in central Iran, the country’s underground enrichment facility. There, an unidentified nuclear scientist gave a statement with a surgical cap and a mask covering most of his face. The state-run IRNA news agency later quoted Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, as acknowledging that capacity had been quadrupled.

The Coming War with Iran

IRGC commander: Iran is on the brink of an ‘all-out clash with the enemy’

The Iranian leadership continues to prepare for further economic, political and military tensions with the United States, while the United States continues to build up its military forces in the Persian Gulf region.

The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group is already in the area, and the crippling U.S. sanctions will continue. In Iran, the top echelon of the regime headed by Supreme Leader Khamenei is preparing public opinion for an ongoing confrontation with the United States—the “Great Satan”—and particularly for the anticipated economic hardship, framing it as part of what the regime calls the “struggle economy.” In reality, the economy keeps deteriorating rapidly, with growing shortages and skyrocketing prices of consumer goods.

In the regional arena as well, tensions are mounting. On May 14, 2019, the Yemeni Houthis—who are under Iran’s influence in Yemen—used seven GPS-guided unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to attack the Aramco East-West pipeline’s pumping stations in Saudi territory in the Dawadmi and Afif regions.

Saudi facilities hit. Source: Houthi-controlled al-Masirah TV.

A United Nations report submitted to the U.N. Security Council in January 2018 found compelling evidence that Houthi-made “Qatef” drones had an almost identical construction and capabilities as the Iranian “Ababil” UAV.

On May 12, 2019, Saudi, Norwegian and UAE oil tankers were sabotaged near the shore of the Fujairah emirate in the Gulf of Oman.

In both cases, Iran signaled that amid the tightening sanctions and deepening economic crisis it is capable of pinpoint strikes on sensitive oil infrastructure in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, as well as in the heart of the Saudi oil industry.

Middle East oil facilities vulnerable to Iranian attack: No. 1 is the East-West Saudi pipeline. In the inset, No. 7, is a map of the Habshan-Fujeirah pipeline that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz.

The attack on the Aramco oil infrastructure highlights the persistent threat of Houthi unmanned weapon systems targeting vital onshore and offshore Saudi and Saudi-affiliated sites.

The targeted pipeline was built during the Iran-Iraq war as an alternative for Saudi Arabia should the Strait of Hormuz be blocked. The oil terminal at the port of Fujairah where Saudi tankers were sabotaged is another such alternative.

The message sent to the UAE and/or Saudi Arabia by these attacks was thus that “we know where your vulnerabilities are.”

Thus, the attacks near the port of Fujairah and in Saudi territory are symbolic. The Emirates serve as an outlet for an oil pipeline that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz and originates in Habshan in Abu Dhabi. As for the drone attack, it marks the first time that the Houthis—aided in their use of missiles and drones by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Lebanese Hezbollah—have hit a target nearly 500 miles from the Yemeni border (assuming the drones were not launched from Saudi territory).

Significantly, after the latest incident the Tasnim News Agency, which is affiliated with the IRGC, published a cartoon that glorifies the Houthis defeating Saudi Arabia.3 In the cartoon: a traditional Houthi dagger (jambiya) with a hilt in the form of a drone breaks the Saudi sword.

“The armed forces of Yemen carried out an operation deep in Saudi territory.” Source: Tasnim News Agency.

The Houthis have attacked Saudi Arabia and the UAE with drones and missiles in the past. In July 2018, a drone exploded at Abu Dhabi airport causing minor damage and sending a strong message to the UAE, which plays a dominant role in the southern parts of Yemen. In January 2019, a senior intelligence chief and senior officials were killed at the al-Anad air force base just outside Aden by a weaponized drone that exploded above them as they attended a military parade.

Given the recent incidents in Fujairah and Saudi Arabia, if the United States or one of its regional allies reveals clear intelligence that Iran was behind the attack on the Saudi tankers, it could lead to the deployment of military escorts for commercial vessels in the region. That, in turn, could augment the frictions with the Iranian naval presence and provoke a further escalation, to the point of limited hostilities between Iran and the United States.

The most dangerous situation the Islamic Revolution has ever known

Meanwhile, the IRGC’s new commander, Hossein Salami, said on May 15, 2019: “Today, our enemies, by applying the maximum pressure strategy and using all their capacities, are trying to break the steadfastness of the Iranian nation, but they will fail.” He added that Iran’s enemies are unaware that the resilience, determination and honor of the nation form its protective shield.

Salami, who is known for his scathing remarks about the United States and Israel, called the current situation the most dangerous and sensitive one that the Iranian Islamic Revolution has ever known and said Iran was at the brink of an all-out confrontation with the enemy. He claimed, however, that Iran’s enemies had exhausted all their resources and, despite their steadfast demeanor, were falling apart internally and on the way to being vanquished by Iran.

Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami likewise declared: “Iran stands at the peak of defense-military preparedness to counter any threat or act of aggression,” and that it would defeat the U.S.-Israeli alliance. Hatami emphasized the fact that last year, despite the difficult conditions it is facing, Iran did not neglect military development, buttressing its power of deterrence.

“Negotiations Are like a Poison”

Meanwhile, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, met with senior officials and again rejected any possibility of negotiating with the United States. “As long as the United States is what it is now,” he said, “negotiating is but poison, and with this current administration that poison is twice [as lethal].”

In a wide-ranging survey of the difficult history of Iran’s relations with the “Great Satan,” he asserted that “the U.S. leaders serve the interests of the Zionist regime more than any other country.” Khamenei also elaborated on the United States’ domestic difficulties, which, he said, were leading it to externalize its problems and look for enemies.

Fars News cartoon implies that the “war-mongering” Zionist regime is behind the attack in Fujairah. Source: Fars News.

“Negotiations,” Khamenei said, “entail exchanges, give and take, but all that interests the United States is power. They say, come, let’s discuss your defensive capabilities and the reasons that you are developing missiles of certain [long] ranges; reduce the range of the missiles so that if we hit you, you won’t be able to hit back. Come, let’s discuss your strategic influence in the region, which means ‘Give it up.’”

Khamenei added, “Negotiations are like a poison as long as the United States behaves as it behaves, and given the current [Trump] administration—which is not decent and does not obey any law—the poison is especially strong, and as a result no noble and wise Iranian will negotiate over his advantages … Not one of our clever people is looking for negotiations.”

Khamenei repeated his assessment that a war between Iran and the United States is unlikely.

“This is not a matter of a military confrontation between the two countries since war is not in the offing … We do not want a war, and neither does the United States, which knows it does not stand to gain anything from a war. This is a struggle of aspirations and values, and Iranian willpower is strong because Iran puts its trust in Allah. The boastful and bullying enemy has no real strength.”

Referring to Washington’s calls for Iran to change its policy, Khamenei said that Iran’s behavior has indeed changed, and “the Iranian people now hate the United States more than ever, and it can no longer interfere in their affairs.”

The Supreme Leader’s forthright statements came in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s offer to negotiate with Iran and his provision to the Swiss of a phone number the Iranians can use to call him directly. Trump’s proposal earned him derisive cartoons in most of the Iranian media. In this Fars cartoon, Trump holds a “telephone carrier” and says, “I want the Iranians to call me, but John Kerry is telling them not to call.”

Source: Fars News.

Crisis Outside the Temple Walls (Revelation 11)

Crisis in Palestine

Danny Wakil, Billinudgel

John Scrivener (Letters, March 27) fails to get to grips with the real issue regarding Gaza – which is how the majority of the population there feel about their brutal leaders, Hamas.

The majority detest the Hamas terror organisation and desperately await their downfall. Publicly expressed opinion that is anti-Hamas is met with likely imprisonment or even death as seen with the recent ‘We want to live’ protests in Gaza.

Don’t take my word; Google Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of a Hamas leader. He devotes his life to showing the world how evil, cruel, and unjust Hamas are. 

Hamas has received untold millions of dollars in international aid – intended to benefit the population – but instead of building schools and hospitals, it funnels the money into building tunnels to send terrorists into Israel, as well as personal bank accounts.

This week alone, Hamas has fired well over 700 rockets at Israeli civilian areas in an attempt to escalate tensions before Eurovision in Israel. Its modus operandi is to destroy, rather than build or be constructive.

Scrivener alleges a ‘slow-motion genocide of Palestinians’ – yet  the annual population growth of the Palestinian people is one of the highest in the world. 

Mr Scrivener, posts like yours do a disservice to the Palestinians. I want them to enjoy a quality life. I want them to reject the likes of Hamas and make peace with Israel so that all parties can co-exist and in fact thrive. Until they do throw off the yoke of Hamas, it’s sadly not going to happen.

ExxonMobil Prepares for a Terrorist Attack

ExxonMobil evacuates 30 engineers from Iraq, Basra Oil Company says

Company: No indicators of security threats

ExxonMobil evacuated about 30 foreign engineers from Basra, Iraq, as a „temporary precautionary measure,“ the government-owned Basra Oil Company said Saturday.

The staff members were evacuated to Dubai and there are „no indicators that companies operating the oil fields are facing any security threats,“ the Basra Oil Company said.

The move will not affect production, project development or planned maintenance in the West Qurna oil field, it added.

The statement did not give details on what prompted the evacuation of the 30 workers.

The oil field is jointly run by ExxonMobil and the Iraqi company, and employs 1,700 people including Iraqis and foreigners, the Basra Oil Company said.

ExxonMobil told CNN Business in an email „as a matter of practice, we don’t share specifics related to operational staffing at our facilities.“

„ExxonMobil has programs and measures in place to provide security to protect its people, operations and facilities. We are committed to ensuring the safety of our employees and contractors at all of our facilities around the world,“ spokesperson Julie L. King said.

Earlier this week, the US State Department ordered the departure of non-emergency US government employees from Iraq amid growing tensions between the United States and Iran, Iraq’s neighbor to the east. Tensions have soared between Washington and Tehran since Washington scrapped a landmark nuclear deal with Iran that briefly brought an end to its economic and diplomatic isolation.

The Trump administration reimposed stringent sanctions on Iran, including on its enormous oil industry.

Recently, the Trump administration has accused Tehran of threats against US troops and interests.

Iranian leaders have denied Iranian involvement in attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf and on a Saudi oil station, and they charged that Washington was unnecessarily escalating tensions with Tehran.








The Saudi Horn Becomes Involved in Iran (Daniel 7)

Adel al-Jubeir, Saudi state minister of foreign affairs, says the ball is in Iran’s court to determine its fate.

Saudi Arabia wants to avert war in the region but stands ready to respond with „all strength and determination“ after last week’s attacks on Saudi oil assets, a senior official said, adding that the ball was now in Iran’s court.

And Every Island Disappeared (Revelation 16:20)

Russia Has Begun Underwater Tests of Its Poseidon Thermonuclear Torpedo

What should we think? 

Russia has begun underwater tests of its Poseidon thermonuclear torpedo.

The Poseidon is an 80-foot-long nuclear-powered submersible robot that is essentially an underwater ICBM. It is designed to travel autonomously across thousands of miles, detonate outside an enemy coastal city, and destroy it by generating a tsunami.

„In the sea area protected from a potential enemy’s reconnaissance means, the underwater trials of the nuclear propulsion unit of the Poseidon drone are underway,“ an unnamed Russian defense official told the TASS news agency.

(This first appeared several months ago.)

The source also said the “the reactor is installed in the hull of the operating drone but the tests are being held as part of experimental design work rather than full-fledged sea trials at this stage.”

TASS also reports the Poseidon, — the name was chosen in a Web contest held by Russia’s Ministry of Defense – will be armed with a 2-megaton warhead. That’s more than enough to destroy a city. But that leaves the question of why Russia would choose to nuke an American city with an underwater drone – even one that allegedly travels 100 miles an hour – when an ICBM can do the job in 30 minutes.

Russia suggests the Poseidon is a retaliatory weapon that would revenge a U.S. first strike even if American missile defenses were capable of stopping hundreds of Russian ICBMs. But even in the unlikely event that the U.S. could intercept 500 or more Russian ballistic missiles, a delivery system that could take days or weeks to reach its target seems hardly an efficient deterrent.

More intriguing is the suggestion that Poseidon could be used against U.S. aircraft carriers. A very fast, nuclear-armed drone could prove difficult for American anti-submarine defenses to stop. In a March 2018 speech, Russian President Vladimir Putin described his nation as being able to “move at great depths — I would say extreme depths — intercontinentally, at a speed multiple times higher than the speed of submarines, cutting-edge torpedoes and all kinds of surface vessels, including some of the fastest. It is really fantastic. They are quiet, highly maneuverable and have hardly any vulnerabilities for the enemy to exploit. There is simply nothing in the world capable of withstanding them.”


Let’s also leave aside the question of why, if Russia really is that advanced in reactor design, its regular nuclear submarines aren’t so blessed. The puzzle is why a giant robot submarine would be needed to detonate a nuclear warhead near a U.S. aircraft carrier (presumably Poseidon is too expensive to waste by arming it with a mere high-explosive warhead). If the goal is to sink a U.S. carrier, couldn’t Russia saturate a carrier’s defenses with a volley of conventionally-armed hypersonic missiles like the Mach 5-plus Khinzal? And if nukes are being used, Russia has no shortage of missiles, bombs and aircraft to target American ships.

Whether Poseidon adds much to Russia’s strategic nuclear forces is doubtful. No less is doubtful is Poseidon the Carrier-Killer.

Michael Peck is a contributing writer for the National Interest. He can be found on Twitterand Facebook.

Gaza Terrorists Fly Balloon Bomb From Outside the Temple Walls (Revelation 11)

Gaza terrorists launch balloons loaded with flammable materials toward Israel during a night protest near the border with Israel, east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on March 19, 2019. 

Gaza Terrorists Fly Balloon Bomb into IDF Base

Photo Credit: Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash 90

An IDF base in southern Israel was balloon-bombed by Hamas terrorists on Saturday.

A cluster of balloons attached to an improvised incendiary device landed inside the military base.

Miraculously, none of the soldiers were inside the barracks at the time of the incident, and the explosive landed in an open area.

Military police from the bomb squad were called to the scene to neutralize the device. It was taken to a separate area to be defused safely.

According to Arab sources, the explosive was one of 30 such incendiary balloon devices that were sent into Israeli territory from Gaza during the Sabbath.