Top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani has met with Iran-linked Iraqi militias in Baghdad, telling them to “prepare for proxy war,” according to a report Thursday, amid rapidly rising tensions between the Washington and Tehran.
The latest confrontation between terror-state Iran and the United States is typical on many levels but with an undeniable element of weirdness to it. On one hand, it's the usual Iranian false bravado, bragging about how they will "crush their enemies" when in real-life they wouldn't last 5 minutes in a real war with America. But no one really knows how much new military firepower they have
acquired from Russia over the past 10 years, and what type of damage they could actually do.
"I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence, And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth." Isaiah 62:6,7 (KJV)
Top Iranian general tells militias to ‘prepare for proxy war’ — report
FROM TIMES OF ISRAEL: Soleimani called the militias for a meeting three weeks ago,
the UK’s Guardian newspaper reported on Thursday. It wasn’t immediately clear when the meeting actually took place. “It wasn’t a call to arms, but it wasn’t far off,” a senior intelligence source said.
The meeting played a part in the US State Department’s decision on Wednesday to order all nonessential government staff to leave Iraq, as Germany and the Netherlands both suspended their military assistance programs in the country.
While Soleimani has regularly met with leaders of Iraqi Shia groups in recent years, this meeting stood out, the source said.
Tensions between Washington and Tehran have soared in recent weeks with a war of words between American and Iranian leaderships, allegations of sabotage attacks targeting oil tankers off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, a drone attack on a Saudi oil pipeline claimed by Yemen’s Iranian-allied rebels, and the dispatch of US warships and bombers to the region.
Last week, US officials said they had detected signs of Iranian preparations for potential attacks on US forces and interests in the Middle East, but Washington has not publicly provided any evidence to back up claims of an increased Iranian threat.
The New York Times reported Thursday that photographs showing Iranian missiles mounted on small boats in the Persian Gulf had led the US to dispatch the warship fleet and bombers to the region.
But the root of the recent spike in Persian Gulf tensions appears to be US President Donald Trump’s decision a year ago to pull the US from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, embarking on a maximalist sanctions campaign against Tehran to cripple the country’s economy. In a speech to state officials, Khamenei said the showdown between the Islamic Republic and the United States was a test of resolve rather than a military encounter.
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