OPINION: This article contains commentary which may reflect the author’s opinion
A dire new intel warning about Iran’s deadly plans for Americans comes as Democrat Joe Biden visits Israel and Saudi Arabia on a Mideast tour where Biden has vowed to revive the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal, which many people believe enriches the criminal elements in Iran.
While Biden is meeting with top leaders there, a US intelligence report warns that Iran may try to assassinate President Donald J. Trump or other ex-senior officials in revenge for a drone strike that killed terrorist leader Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Iraq in 2020.
Biden, who is showing no concern at all for the warnings, is taking the opportunity of the visit to trash Trump, saying that Trump made a “gigantic mistake” by withdrawing from the multinational Iran deal when he was in office.
“The only thing worse than the Iran that exists now is an Iran with nuclear weapons,” Biden said in an interview with Israeli broadcaster Channel12 aired on Wednesday.
“I think it was a gigantic mistake for the last president to get out of the deal. They’re closer to a nuclear weapon now than they were before,” he added.
According to the recent warning, Trump, Mike Pompeo and Gen. Kenneth McKenzie are ‘priority targets’ for the terrorist nation since Soleimani was killed by a US drone as he covertly visited Iraq. US officials say that Soleimani was a top financier of terrorist networks, which made him a target, and Trump at the time laid out extensive reasoning for the strike on the leader.
The June 16 intelligence assessment from the National Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC) was issued just two days before President Joe Biden announced his current Middle East tour, according to Yahoo News.
The NCTC is housed with the Department of National Intelligence, and produces analysis, maintains the authoritative database of known and suspected terrorists, and shares information on terrorism.
“Biden on Wednesday opened his first visit to the Mideast since taking office with a stop in Israel, where Iran’s nuclear ambitions were expected to be the top item on the agenda,” The Daily Mail reported.
Iran has talked about getting revenge for Soleimani’s death for a long time, even releasing a taunting video earlier in the year showing a simulated drone strike on Trump. The new report offers further confirmation that US officials are taking the threats seriously.
The NCTC intelligence report, which is marked as unclassified but as ‘for official use only,’ was widely distributed inside the government and to law enforcement agencies nationwide.
‘Since January 2021, Tehran has publicly expressed a willingness to conduct lethal operations inside the United States and has consistently identified former President Donald Trump, former Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, and former CENTCOM Commander General Kenneth McKenzie as among its priority targets for retribution,’ the report says.
‘Iran would probably view the killing or prosecution of a US official it considers equivalent in rank and stature to Soleimani or responsible for his death as successful retaliatory actions,’ the assessment adds.
“The Iranian regime is waging a multipronged campaign — including threats of lethal action, international legal maneuvering, and the issuance of Iranian arrest warrants and sanctions — against select US officials to avenge the death of IRGC-QF Commander Soleimani in January 2020, raising the threat at home and abroad for those Iran views as responsible for the killing,” the report states.
IRGC-QF stands for Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, which is part of Iran’s military.
In his announcement of Soleimani’s death in 2020, Trump said the terrorist leader had been planning attacks at the time of the strike:
From the speech:
“Last night at my direction, the United States military successfully executed a flawless, precision strike that killed the number one terrorist anywhere in the world. He was plotting imminent and sinister attacks on American diplomats and military personnel, but we caught him in the act and terminated him.
Under my leadership, America’s policy is unambiguous to terrorists who harm or intend to harm any Americans. We will find you. We will eliminate you. You have protected our diplomats’ service members, all Americans, and our allies for years; the Islamic revolutionary guard Corps and its ruthless coach Force under Soleimani’s leadership has targeted, injured, and murdered hundreds of American civilians and service.
The recent attacks on us Targets in Iraq. Including rocket strikes that killed an American and injured American servicemen very badly. As well as a violent assault. On Baghdad were carried out at the direction of Soleimani. Soleimani made the death of an innocent. Today we remember and honor the victims of Solomon. He’s many atrocities. And we take comfort in knowing that his reign of terror is over.
Soleimani has been responsible for acts of terror to destabilize the Middle East for the last 20 years. What the United States did yesterday should have been done long ago. A lot of lives would have been saved.
We took action last night to stop. A war, we did not take action to start a war. I have deep respect for the Iranian people. They are remarkable people with an incredible heritage and unlimited potential. We do not seek regime change. However, the Iranian regime is aggressive in the region, including the use of proxy fighters to destabilize its neighbors, must end, and it must end now.
The future belongs to the people of Iran. Without these monsters. America will always pursue its interest. Good people, great. It solves while seeking peace, harmony, and friendship with all of the nations of the world.”
Source: The Republic Brief