For all the beads of sweat appearing on various squeamish brows warning against escalation...
President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the United States will not join an offensive counter-strike on Iran should Israel choose that road after Tehran attacked it this weekend, according to two people familiar with the conversation.
U.S. officials, meanwhile, are urging Israelis to be measured in any response, two U.S. officials and a diplomat familiar with the issue said.
The Biden administration is trying to defuse an armed confrontation that could drag the Middle East, as well as America, into a full-blown war. But it was not immediately clear if Netanyahu, who has long viewed Tehran as an Israeli archenemy that must be dealt with harshly, would listen given political pressures at home.
...if the Israelis counter-strike Iran...
US approves Rafah op. in exchange for no Israeli counter-strikes on Iran
— John The Main Guy - Am Yisrael Chai (@JohnTheMainGuy1) April 18, 2024
White House says "No we didn't".https://t.co/9Twtdffc08
...not to mention Iranian bluster just in case Israelis really, really mean it...
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi on Wednesday warned that any military incursion by Israel would be met with a severe response, further raising concerns of escalation as Israel mulls a response to Tehran’s drone and missile attack over the weekend.
...it seems like the Israelis, after agreeing within hours of the Iranian attack, have decided to chill out a bit. Really, there's no rush. They've made their decision, and it's perfectly okay to let Iran sweat this out.
The IDF has decided how it will counter-strike Iran and its proxies but has not yet settled on the timing; multiple sources told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
Because the timing is still variable and because of all the necessary complex preparations, the current decision could change.
However, the very development of a decision shows the severity and determination of Israel’s leadership to strike back, though all indications are that Jerusalem still seeks to tamp down the attack to avoid spiraling into a regional war.
In fact, rumor has it that Netanyahu and his cabinet have decided to put off any action until after the Passover holidays are completed. It's important to give everyone a break after six hard months of fighting and death.
ISRAELI PM NETANYAHU POSTPONING COUNTER STRIKE ON IRAN TILL AFTER PASSOVER NEXT WEEK - SKY NEWS
— First Squawk (@FirstSquawk) April 18, 2024
For all the big talk—and believe me, it's been big—the Iranians are skittering around like cockroaches. The mullahs are trying to protect what assets they have by either bringing them home or, if they are already on Iranian soil, covering them up more betterer. For instance, they are dying knowing that their nuclear facilities are a big fat target for the fearless and now truly motivated Israelis to try to cripple, if not destroy.
They've done it to other nuclear reactors before.
On June 7, 1981, 40 years ago today, Israel attacked and partially destroyed Iraq’s Osirak nuclear research reactor at Tuwaitha, using U.S. supplied F-15 and F-16 aircraft to carry out the attack. Ten Iraqi soldiers and one French engineer were killed during the airstrike. Apparently, the Israeli raid took President Ronald Reagan and his advisers completely by surprise, yet their predecessors, including President Jimmy Carter, were aware of the strong possibility of an attack.
Iranians are threatening a more aggressive nuclear posture IF Israelis choose to strike at those evil workings.
A senior Iranian official warned Thursday that Iran could work on building nuclear weapons if Israel attacks its nuclear facilities, the latest escalation in threats issued by the two sides amid heightened tensions in the Middle East.
The comments follow Iran’s aerial attack on Israel last weekend. Israeli officials have said they intend to respond to Tehran’s missile-and-drone barrage.
Brigadier General Ahmad Haghtalab, the commander for security of Iran’s nuclear facilities, said Iran could change its nuclear policies—a reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s longstanding public pledge not to build nuclear weapons.
Haghtalab, a top figure in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps—the paramilitary force that dominates military and defense policy under Khamenei—warned that Iran would retaliate against Israeli nuclear sites if Israel hits Iran’s nuclear facilities. Israel is widely believed to have nuclear weapons but has never confirmed that.
But, in the meantime, the Iranian regime isn't taking any chances trying to securely button up what they have, knowing it's a prime target for attempted destruction. Prudence dictates they bubblewrap their nuclear facilities.
JUST IN CASE
Iran closed down its nuclear facilities amid fears of an Israeli attack, the United Nations has revealed.
Inspectors were blocked from the sites on Sunday, Rafael Grossi, the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency chief, said.
The shutdown came as Israel’s war cabinet was locked in talks over how to respond to Iran’s first direct attack on its territory.
Experts have warned Iran is on the “threshold” of becoming a nuclear power and could build a bomb in six months to a year. Uranium enrichment is accelerating as the regime faces calls to create a deterrent.
That's not the only asset Iranians want to protect. For months, and in other periods of unrest prior to this, a certain Iranian Spy ship gussied up as a freighter has been plying the waters of the Red Sea. It mysteriously always seems to be in the vicinity when Houthi missiles are finding their targets or certain tankers or cargo ships need to be culled for boarding and hijacking out of the hundreds floating by.
Earlier this year, there was speculation after the deaths of 3 American soldiers that U.S. would finally take it out, but the mullahs read Biden better than that.
They left the boat right where it was.
Since a Tehran-backed militia in Iraq killed three U.S. soldiers in a drone strike in Jordan, there has been mounting speculation about how Washington might retaliate against Iran.
While unnamed U.S. officials speaking to the media have ruled out a direct strike on Iranian territory, they have suggested that Washington could attack Iranian targets in Iraq or Syria, or naval assets in the region.
Media reports suggest one target could be the Behshad, an Iranian vessel in the Red Sea that experts believe is a spy ship that is operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and provides intelligence to Iranian-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen. Tehran maintains that it is a cargo ship.
It's telling that the Iranians are nowhere near as sanguine about the Behshad's chance with the Israelis.
The spy ship is sailing away from the danger zone.
https://t.co/jXMQXWYaHX pic.twitter.com/eZGETuO1k7
— tree hugging s*ster 🎃 (@WelbornBeege) April 18, 2024
No point in waving a red flag at a bull you know will charge it.
I'd liken Biden to Ferdinand under the cork tree, but that bull was kind-hearted and benevolent. (FYI, his creator, Munro Leaf, designed the winged bull mascot for Marine Corps Air Station El Toro.) (But I digress.)
The bovine brain in the White House is a pernicious, toothless dim-wit.
His reputation is set in stone now.
And this must be patently obvious to everyone in the world but the White House. No one hides or moves a damn thing out of the way when POTATUS says, "Don't."
It doesn't matter how many times he says it.
It doesn't mean a thing.
BEEGE UPDATE: Well, it just might be showtime. Reports started coming in of aircraft being heard over Syria and portions of Iraq...
Intense Air Activity by Unknown Aircraft reported now over the Northern Iraqi Cities of Erbil and Mosul.
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) April 19, 2024
...then the explosions started...
I hope this is just some softening up kind of action https://t.co/71lcHNrDAK
— tree hugging s*ster 🎃 (@WelbornBeege) April 19, 2024
...and then they spread to Iran.
Unconfirmed Reports now of Explosions near the City of Isfahan in Central Iran, which is Home to one of Iran’s Major Nuclear Facilities.
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) April 19, 2024
Precisely where they need to be: Natanz and Isfahan.
Explosions so far have been reported in the last few minutes near the Cities of Isfahan and Natanz in Central Iran, which both contain Significant Facilities for the Iranian Nuclear Program.
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) April 19, 2024
Iranian media is reporting the same now.
— Banana Republic Justice Swan 🍌 (@TheWuhanClan) April 19, 2024
If the reports of explosions at Natanz and Isfahan are correct, one would hope this doesn’t get bigger, if Israel were able to take them both out in one strike, it would likely set the Iranian nuclear ambitions back 10-15 years.
— John Cooke (@Marslauncher) April 19, 2024
I hope they all get home safely.
MORE BREAKING: Totally looks legit right about now. ABC News now reporting an administration official has confirmed Israel hit Iran.
Israeli missiles have hit a site in Iran
A U.S. official confirmed to ABC News Israeli missiles have hit a site in Iran. The official could not confirm whether Syria and Iraq sites were hit as well.
-ABC News' Martha Raddatz
Good hunting, brothers and sisters. https://t.co/dqU5v4LCFq
— Arie Friedman (@ArieFriedman) April 19, 2024
My sentiments, exactly. God speed.
Your moment of levity:
IRANIAN STATE MEDIA IS REPORTING TONIGHT’S AIRSTRIKE BY THE ISRAEL AIR FORCE MAY HAVE TARGETED THE 8TH TACTICAL AIRBASE OF THE IRANIAN AIR FORCE, WITHIN ISFAHAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, WHICH CONTAINS MULTIPLE SQUADRONS OF F-14 “TOMCAT” FIGHTER AIRCRAFT.
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 19, 2024
Holy crap, it's was real! pic.twitter.com/JYhVpeehlk
Heh.
🚨IDF has allegedly hit 7 Cities Inside of Iran:
— Emily Schrader - אמילי שריידר امیلی شریدر (@emilykschrader) April 19, 2024
Tehran
Fordow
Arak
Natanz
Kharg Island
Bushehr
Bandar Abbas
That’s the sites of Iran’s nuclear program. Free Iran from the Islamic Republic. pic.twitter.com/4DawgGk6Oq
Go get 'em.
#UPDATE Iran's state TV reports "big explosions" have been heard near the central city of Isfahan, as a news agency said flights were suspended over the capital Tehran and other cities.
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) April 19, 2024
"News sources are reporting hearing big explosions in Isfahan province," state television… pic.twitter.com/G7IgrO4ZmB
9:36 pm Central and my big question - did anyone wake POTATUS up? Or do they tell him when he gets his bowl of oatmeal tomorrow?
AND I'M DED
https://t.co/8tC2X9pTIM pic.twitter.com/rezpTtSHIF
— tree hugging s*ster 🎃 (@WelbornBeege) April 19, 2024
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