U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

BREAKING: The Pentagon has confirmed, US forces have killed a top Iranian general in a drone airstrike on Baghdad airport - an attack that marks a dramatic escalation of tensions with Tehran.

Pentagon also confirms the strike was ordered by U.S President Donald Trump, in retaliation for storming U.S Embassy in Iraq earlier this week.

https://news.sky.com/story/top-irani...rport-11900074

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

As was foretold...

https://www.cableforum.uk/board/atta...7&d=1578047553

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

What a stupid meme.

So earlier this week, you expect, an Iranian sponsored attack on a US. Embassy to go unchallenged Hugh?

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

What was an Iranian General doing in Iraq? That alone made him a fair target.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

From an Iranian citizen:

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Judging by the amount of hardware being ferried to the gulf over the past couple of days it’s all going off. Haven’t seen this much activity since Desert Storm.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

From Defcon Warning System:

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Killing another country's top general would conventionally be an act of war, it is quite the escalation. Iran isn't going to start a war over it because this is the United States but it is a big moment.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Seeing lots of Iranians posting in Arabic on Social media, probably living in Iraq, as Iran controls it’s internet, celebrating in jubilation.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

And an Iranian General being in Iraq uninvited isn't an act of war?

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Trump designated the IRGC a terrorist organisation last year so in the eyes of the president and no doubt the joint chiefs he was fair game.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

More interestingly, Russia is an ally of Iran, they have been relatively silent on this, the sheer boldness by the U.S, probably the element of surprise has flabbergasted them for now.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

There's been a constant stream of C17 and C5 heavy transport aircraft ferrying kit from the US to the Med and the Gulf. They seem to be dropping off in Jordan and Kuwait and coming back for more. These flights are normal but not on this scale.

A train of KC-135 tankers left Mildenhall for the Med at first light this morning so it looks like the majority of the 48FW residents at Lakenheath (F-15 Strike Eagles) have made their way down there before any of the spotters have rolled out of bed.

Last night a couple of AC130 Gunships were making their way in and a few other bits and bobs you don't often see.

Belt and braces eh.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Hope the Iranians haven't read this Peter, you've given them some top intel. The FBI will be on to you!

Must be an election coming if there's a war in the offing... How predictable, its the only card Trump has left. Shame politicians reckon lives are dispensible for their own political careers. It was the same with Blair, Bush and Thatcher.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

What this also demonstrates is the background intelligence needed to know where and when this individual could be targeted and also the precision munitions used to achieve it.

Here is his 4WD. Note how only it is destroyed, nothing else. Even the palms still have their fronds.

https://www.cableforum.uk/images/local/2020/01/2.jpg

If I was on the target list I'd be keeping my head well down.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Exactly this, the Iranian Sponsored attack on the U.S Embassy this week in Baghdad, shows Iran has bitten off more than it can chew, they were not expecting this and this will have seriously weakened them and humiliated them, sure someone could step up in to this General's shoes, but he is said to have significant strategic might, this was their top man but also, Abu Mahdi al Muhandis, deputy commander of the Popular Mobilisation Forces, was also killed in this attack.

President Trump said Iran would pay 'a big price' for the storming of the US embassy in Baghdad a couple of days ago and he just told Iran, he was not joking.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Does the British Army deploy resources to areas based on regional tension/developments as a matter of routine?

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

There are a few hundred British troops in Iraq supposedly delivering training to the Iraqi security forces but they have been there for a while. Remains to be seen if they get out of dodge now or in the near future.

Special operations forces are another matter: Nothing official will be said but you can almost guarantee that there will be SAS/SBS on the ground working with USSOCOM and CIA Special Activities at any given time. Someone must have been eyes on the ground for yesterday's strike but we'll probably never find out who.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

AFP News Agency: BREAKING Iran security body vows to avenge Soleimani death in 'right place and time' AND Syrian's Assad says Soleimani support for Syria army 'will not be forgotten'.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

It’s a curious development. Trump’s instincts are generally almost isolationist in that he doesn’t see world peace as something to be paid for in American tax dollars. On the other hand he lashes out like a toddler when he feels personally slighted. I suspect on balance he has taken the embassy attack personally, rather than this being part of a strategy.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

The thing to remember about Trump is that he heavily criticised his 2016 rival in the U.S Presidential Election, Hillary Clinton when she was Secretary of State and how weak she and President Obama was when four Americans were killed in that Embassy attack and that it was only the other day, he highlighted he was not going to allow another "Benghazi" on his watch, he has to be seen by his base not to be weak.

I do not necessarily agree with this bold move, but I am not going to shed a tear either.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Likewise the American army then. They will attack any country at will.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

ABC News reporting that an additional 3,500 troops from the 82nd Airborne will be deployed to Kuwait. That goes some way to explaining a lot of those Reach flights throughout today and yesterday evening.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Remeber WMD's in Iraq and how true the americans statementswere.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

I think the issue is not whether we will be shedding tears over the guy being assassinated in a bold manner - I suspect few here will - but what will the repercussions be. It's obviously a trade off.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...cid=spartanntp

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

BREAKING: A.P News wire: The chief of Hezbollah says evicting the U.S. military from the Middle East is now a priority and calls on American bases, warships and soldiers fair targets to be destroyed after the killing of Iran's top general.

---------- Post added at 15:29 ---------- Previous post was at 14:56 ----------

LATEST: Iraq parliament votes to expel US military from Iraq.
PM Abdul Mahdi: “It’s time for American troops to leave.”

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

It's been time to go for a long time..

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-50998065

As well as US forces, I hope that also includes the Iranians, Russians, Syrians, Kurds and people of all forces aligned with ISIS. No? I thought not.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

The Kurds aren't foreign forces or aligned with ISIS. :confused:

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

As far as the Kurds are concerned, everybody that isn't Kurdish is foreign. It's a case of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend".

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

A bit like the United States approach in the Middle East supporting the Taliban and Saddam?

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

BREAKING: Iranian state TV reports Iran will no longer abide by any Uranium limits of its 2015 nuclear deal. www.apne.ws/4Sji74x

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Because up til now they were absolutely abiding by it. To the letter ...

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Before you know it one of them will throw a flip flop at a picture of Trump.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

@NYTimes: “Officials presented the president with options. The Pentagon tacked on the choice of targeting Suleimani mainly to make other options seem reasonable. They didn’t think he would take it. When Mr. Trump chose the option, military officials, flabbergasted, were alarmed.”

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Many of the Kurds come from Turkey and Iran, and I may have missed a comma to separate them from "foreign forces aligned with ISIS".

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

As Hillary said you have a private position and a public position, i wonder what the Iraq government wants in private.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

So what could these multitude of "other options" have possibly been?:rolleyes: Pretty much boils down to kill or capture.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Sounds like they're suggesting a bit of a misjudgment on the Pentagon's part.

---------- Post added at 18:53 ---------- Previous post was at 18:51 ----------

It says they did not involve targeting Suleimani.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

So what could these multitude of other options have been? 1) Leave him alone, achieving little. 2) Capture him. Difficult, dangerous, and doesn't achieve anything. If the Pentagon didn't want to take some sort of action, there was no need to tell the President anything. It would've been "business as usual".

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

There's always the possibility that the Israelis were going to take him out if the Americans didn't which would have been less palatable for the likes of Jordan, Saudi and the other Sunni Arab states.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Iraq has voted for US and UK army to leave. It seems we're unhappy about this especially as ISIS still remains a concern.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

The vote was non-binding. We won’t be leaving anytime soon. In Iraq, there are pro-Iran forces at play and none of the Anti-Iran Iraqi MPs bothered to show up to vote today. Today’s vote was all for show.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Evidence suggests they were

https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2019...g-nuclear-deal

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

"It says they did not involve targeting Suleimani" so let's exclude him.
So other options include:
- Target other individuals
- Target Iranian infrastructure physically
- Target Iraninan infrastructure technolologically

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

It did include his targeting as a ‘far out option apparently.U.S military and intelligence services were reportedly ‘dismayed’ when trump ordered the assassination

(along with the air strikes on Dec 29th)

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

There was no need for the Pentagon so say anything, unless they wanted action taken against that individual. Any briefing would've been about that person and that person only. Unless keeping him alive served a purpose(eg tracking who he met), then that just leaves taking him out. There is no great multitude of options when talking about one individual. The wider situation is a different matter.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

CNN Pentagon correspondent reporting that 6xB52s are being deployed to Diego Garcia in readiness for potential operations against Iran. Bearing in mind what may already be on the ground at the facility that's a world of hurt ready to dish out.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Bearing in mind what was already on the ground at Diego Garcia, flying strategic bombers in just looks like a bit of highly visible willy-waving.

I suspect Trump is trying to signal to Iran that the ground rules have changed - they have tolerated a certain amount of harassment from the Iranians in the past but would like them to conclude that any future mischief (such as harassing shipping, for example) will not go without a robust response.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

BREAKING: The Associated Press @AP
Iranian state television is reporting that a stampede has erupted at a funeral procession for a general slain in U.S. airstrike and that there are an unspecified number of people killed or injured.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

No need to get over excited by it all Peter.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Up to 40 killed in stampede, theres nothing like a dignified funeral eh:shrug:


https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/106867...ede-iran-dead/

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Don't know if it was just coincidence, but last night(night of mon 6th), there was a programme about the guy on BBC2.
Link

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Absolutely, although given that the regime seems partial to murdering it's own citizens you would hope that they don't have the appetite for a bit of collateral damage to activate Global Outrage Inc.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

I reckon we'll be out by the end of the month

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

It's gone up.

Link

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

BREAKING: Scattered reports that Iran has just fired a Ballistic Missile at Al Asad Airbase in Iraq where U.S troops are based.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

If they did, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the US target the missile launch site. They will have been alert to this possibility. At this stage I think Iran is still testing the US to see just how far it’s prepared to go. I have a feeling Iran may not like what it finds out.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

CONFIRMATION now from White House multiple rocket attacks from Iran hitting several targets containing U.S troops in Iraq.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Iran had better hope the US doesn’t have assets loitering nearby ... they might be about to discover it isn’t the early 1990s any more and it’s not so easy to hide a mobile missile launcher in the desert once it’s been used.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

This is getting pretty serious as every minute passes: 6 US F-35s seen taking off from UAE. Iran issues warning to UAE that they will be attacked should any US aircraft launched from their country attack Iran.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

This is very bad. I think that the regime has just signed it's own death warrant

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

How would the US react if Iran assasinated one of its Generals?

This is all about Trump/re-election/impeachment again. Anything to change the news and wave the flag.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Probably true, but doesn’t answer the substance of the post you quoted.

1. It is very bad
2. The Iranian regime might well not survive this.

These are valid observations regardless of the motives, or sanity, of the occupant of the White House.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Last time there was regime change in Iran it was for the worse. We might end up getting an even more radical West hating outfit, and might spread to other countries in the area. The US haven't got a good record on regime change/bullying other countries. Dialogue/sanctions not bombs/assasinations brings more results.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

The US would of been expecting some sort of response from Iran. the next steps will be determined by if there were any casualties (US reporting none, Iran saying they caused eighteen)

If there are no casualties i would expect Trump to let this pass as the willy waving response. If there are however then i think we will seen cruise missile strikes at key Iranian infrastructure.

Interestingly Iran have said that that is the end of their retaliation and now the ball is with Trump

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

With Iran lobbing uncontrolled missiles about anything could have happened. Did they end up hitting this aircraft?

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

I do find this a little concerning.

The General, from what I have read, undoubtedly deserves his fate, so I have no concerns there.

I don't think Iran themselves poses an outright threat. They don't have the resources or manpower to do so.

What concerns me is terrorism. ISIS has not gone away, and there are likely other terrorist groups. Actions such as this will rally people to their cause, perpetuating the image of the evil West that oppresses the Muslims. Something which may well be storing up problems for the future.

Now, of course, Trump, loudmouth that he is, isn't going to discuss anything classified that the US may be doing to prevent terrorism. For all his faults, he isn't an idiot. He knows that if he did publicly announce some classified action and got good, honest, American soldiers killed, the Democrats and media would be all over that, and it'd likely terminate his chances of re-election, if not help the current impeachment action.

So it is entirely possible that the US is doing something they aren't telling us with the aim of preventing terrorism.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

And the small matter of avoiding an all-out war between Israel and Iran which is what will happen if the Iranian regime is allowed to continue along it's current path.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Unlikely, because the US bases targeted were nowhere near the Tehran-Kiev flight path.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

There is speculation that jittery ground defence gunners in Tehran could have fired on the plane thinking an American counter-attack was underway.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

We all know the US has Spy satelites over that area.

The forst think they will take out is radar sittes, theny any missile launch site that will wake up at the last second, but I guess you can track these vehicles to a point.

Iran wouldn't stand a chance against the US.

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In a conventional war Iran vs US? correct,

Iran however manages to draw it's allies in and it's a different ball game.

Israel gets involved and we're really in the crap..... Hence, why in GW1 & 2 Israel had to be persuaded not to retaliate under any circumstances.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

What an absolute joke, it’s Trump man bad again with you isn’t it, did you see the news reports coming out of Iran during this Iranian monsters general’s funeral procession, they were running over and crushing their own people to death which in turn caused the stampede which killed a further 58 people. But Trump still bad for killing a Terrorist ******* and as usual, you’re on the side of our enemies.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Trump due to give an address from the Whitehouse foyer at 4PM (UK time)

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

I'm on the side of not provoking a needless war for someone's political gain. Everyone will lose as usual.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Iran appears to have fired off a load of missiles, deliberately missed, and crossed fingers that Trump would allow them to claim honour had been satisfied. It appears someone at the Pentagon has persuaded Trump to go along with it.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Well I guess everyone has got something they wanted out of this?

Iran get to save some face but both sides avoid escalating. Trump doesn't really have anything to lose by not reacting to a intentionally missed airstrike.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Unless you were on board that Ukrainian plane. That was one hell of a coincidence if it’s not related to last night’s events in some way.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Must be though? I can't think of any other outcome. If it was the U.S why wouldn't Iran say so, if it was Iran why would the U.S not say so? Why would Ukraine play along?

Maybe it was one of these other actors, i.e Iran, but in the interest of avoid a war everyone is conspiring to say it's an accident on condition Iran plays ball.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Going back to the starting point of this thread, it was stated separately by the Pentagon, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Trump, that Soleimani was assassinated because he was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members.

Pentagon statement 2nd January Mike Pompeo 3rd January Trump 3rd January Why would killing one person stop these attacks happening? Quds is the equivalent (according to US General Stanley McChrystal) of a combination of the CIA and JSOC, with around 20,000 personnel, and his deputy took over the same day - the plans will still be there, and the personnel and equipment.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Ukraine isn’t playing along - it has called for “those responsible” to be brought to justice. And if the plane was brought down by Iranian anti-aircraft defences, the USA wouldn’t be in a position to say so and Iran would have no reason to say so.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Perfectly good 737-800’s (not super max) tend not to just fall out of the sky. I’d be amazed if there was not a direct or indirect link.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

The USA would probably know though right?

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Pretty sure there would be lots of satellite, AWACS, and other ELINT surveillance around that area at the time...

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

It would explain Iran's suddenly desire to calm this all down and Trump not feeling like he needs to talk tough. IIRC Air case investigations are conducted by an independent body and that is a requirement of any country that wants to have international fights sent and received from them. If this wasn't an accident it's going to come out.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

It may be independant, but if an AK47 is aimed at you and you are told go away you do.

As you may know I worked for TNT Airways and handled all aircraft manual pertaining to their BAe-146s & A300,

We would often get non public information about crashes (Hudson for one)

As for this crash there was no Mayday, well if the plane has a issue Maday is the last thing on their mind.

In emergencies thay have a checklist book, this is sometimes customised per aircraft, it was just under 2" thick for the a300.


I doubt it was shot down as I believe it happened outside the missile strikes timeline.

Just because the aircraft was checked doesn't mean much. Why, in the UK/USA, you need to be certified on what you can check, just because you can fix an engine doesn't mean yo are allowed to change a wheel.

In some countries the engine does jobs he shouldn't, and thats why those airlines are banned in EU airspace.

I'm putting my money on poor maintenance is the reasom why it crashed.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Could well be, but worth pointing out that the “shot down” theory does not relate to the Iranians launching missiles, but to the possibility that one of their air defence operatives got trigger happy in the hours afterwards, while they waited to see if America would strike back.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Debris pictures and story on link above. The holes in the fusilage certainly look like they were made by some sort of small projectile.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

It could also be an uncontained engine failure, the Cowl is Kevlar lined but a major engine failure will punture the fuselage, to the untrained eye will look like something else.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Unless they are trying to send a message: "We can get to your top brass". Otherwise, why do it so publicly? I'm fairly certain the CIA is quite capable of arranging a small accident for him. Maybe a heart attack?

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Interestingly, the OPS blog page doesn’t say it’s the most likely explanation - that is the media’s interpretation of their blog.

It appears to me they are saying "err on the side of caution", not that it is the most likely explanation.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Brown trousers on stand-by

Reports 737 was shot down by missile

https://news.sky.com/story/iran-plan...ssile-11904698

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Being reported by multiple news outlets now - Newsweek quoting US officials: The Ukrainian plane that crashed in Iran was shot down by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile system, which was operating during the conflict, at the time.

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Of course it was. I’m surprised anyone ever thought otherwise. A perfectly capable passenger jet takes off from a city that has just ordered air raids on the most powerful military in the world and is braced for reprisals, then suddenly falls out of the sky with the loss of all lives aboard. The incident absolutely screams “anti aircraft fire”. No wonder Trump was so easy to talk down - if the Pentagon does have persuasive evidence it can share they don’t need to pile the pressure on Iran with cruise missiles, they can wage a pretty effective publicity war instead, playing on the line that Iran is a terrorist state and General Al-Vader or whatever his name was was the arch terrorist.

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It's looking more like it was.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

Not totally impossible that there was a fault on the plane and it turned around, then others might have been a bit jumpy over an airborne object unexpectedly flying towards Tehran and mistook it for an attack.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

That’s plausible, given that there must still have been a reason for them to fire missiles at it, beyond it simply being in the sky (presumably the military were aware the airport was still open).

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Massive Iranian cock-up. Poor souls on board R.I.P.

Re: U.S Assassinates Top Iranian General
 

I think it will be radio silence out of Tehran for some time.