christo-f Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Occupies small oil field in disputed area and moves back to Iraqi side of border. THe timing is the key. Comes as the deadline approaches for stronger action from US/West against Iran over nuclear program. Word is that US may extend Dec. deadline to mid Jan. Possible message from Iran to US concerning vulnerabilities should the US move against Iran. The Middle East is heating up again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lord_casek Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Fuck. Here we go again with the political chessboard (in the ME). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christo-f Posted December 18, 2009 Author Share Posted December 18, 2009 Interesting note, there was a hack on Twitter at the same time of the invasion by Iranians: Green flag on homepage with text beneath reading: "USA think they controlling and managing internet by their access [sic], but they don't, we control and manage internet by our power. Now which country in embargo list? Iran? USA? We push them in embargo list. Take care," Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lord_casek Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Oh noes! What will the hipsters and celebrities do once Iran has sunk its teeth into twitter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viperface Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8420453.stm Karoubi and the election riots give strong impression that the regime is shabby at best already. I'd let them topple Ahmadinejad themselves, if they can. Igniting the revolution might seem logical for US at this point, but could also strengthen the current regime. I'm sure lots of "neutral" Iranians would condemn any US intervention and choose sides accordingly. Invading Iran would be extremely stupid, that's for sure. These people are patriotic, that's why they're rioting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christo-f Posted December 18, 2009 Author Share Posted December 18, 2009 Israel is positioning to drag the US into strikes on Iran. THere won't be any invasion but a lot of missile strikes and spec ops. The Iran deal is actually a side show, this is all about Russia and the US. If Russia would end its support of Iran the US could deal with them easily However Russia wants the US out of Georgia, Ukraine and Poland and is using its support of Iran as leverage to make this happen. Basic gaming plays it out that the US is going to end up in an uncomfortable position stuck between Israel's refusal to accept the risk of a nuke/S-300 armed Iran and Russia's refusal to back down unless the US gets out of its backyard. The US doesn't want conflict with Iran, no one does really. But a nuclear armed Iran is undesirable for everyone, most immediately Israel, that's why they are setting the tempo here. This is the latest, keep in mind that some players are using disinformation as a weapon: A high-ranking Iranian official told ...... that Iranian forces made a brief incursion into southern Iraq to occupy the Fauqa oil field outside the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah Dec. 18. The source implied that the operation was conducted by Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forces and involved an unspecified number of tanks and two infantry platoons. The operation would have likely been ordered by Gen. Mohammad Pakpour, commander of IRGC ground forces. This report has not been confirmed. Meanwhile, Iraq’s Deputy Interior Minister Ahmed Ali al Khafaji backtracked on his denial from earlier in the day and has now claimed that at 3:30 p.m. Iraqi time on Dec. 18, 11 Iranian soldiers crossed into Iraqi territory and took up positions at the Fauqa oil well some 500 meters from the Iranian border. Al Khafaji echoed the statements of an Iraqi border guard, claiming that the Iranian soldiers raised an Iranian flag over the oil well and remain there. He also claimed that the incident was the latest in a series of similar events this week. Many questions remain as to what exactly occurred Dec. 18, but as information is coming out, it appears more likely that Iran has made a serious provocation in southern Iraq and the Iraqi government is developing a response. According to Al Arabiya, the Iraqi National Security Council has convened to discuss the development, while the Dr. Mohammed al Haj Hamoud, a representative of Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has reportedly been dispatched to negotiate with Iran over the matter. Clashes between Iran and Iraq over disputed oil fields on the border between the two countries are not without precedent. Similar events have occurred over the past several years in the border region where markers have not been reestablished since the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. Already Iraqi Foreign Minister Zebari is downplaying the incident, claiming he is not surprised it happened since the border has yet to be demarcated. A U.S. military official in Iraq, Col. Peter Newell, has also characterized the event as somewhat routine, and one that both Iraqi and Iranian forces participate in: “What happens is, periodically, about every three or four months, the oil ministry guys from Iraq will go… to fix something or do some maintenance. They’ll paint it in Iraqi colors and throw an Iraqi flag up. They’ll hang out there for a while, until they get tired, and as soon as they go away, the Iranians come down the hill and paint it Iranian colors and raise an Iranian flag. It happened about three months ago and it will probably happen again.” However, the timing of the development is critical. U.S. President Barack Obama is nearing an end-of-December deadline to bring Iran to the negotiating table, or else face heavy pressure from Israel to take decisive action against Iran. A .......... Iranian source claims that the operation was meant as a signal to the United States to eschew the road to escalation in the Iranian nuclear dispute. By threatening an Iraqi oil field, Iran may be sending a warning shot of how Iran will respond in the event of an Israeli and/or American attack on its nuclear installations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christo-f Posted December 18, 2009 Author Share Posted December 18, 2009 No US troops in that region and they are not making any official comment. That means they want nothing to do with it. Iranians are sending messages out suggesting that Maliki also needs to pay attention. That would be because he left the IUA and formed the INA. Iran may want to know who he now belongs to. However, who is the message sender and who do they belong to? Fun and games, 2010 is going to be a busy year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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