When 62-year-old Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed by a remote control, truck mounted machine gun, Iran knew it had Israel’s fingerprints all over it. While 71-year-old Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Natanyahu refused to comment on the extra-judicial killing 40 miles from Tehran, Iran figured Israel was the culprit since it targeted Iran’s nuclear scientists 10 years ago. It doesn’t help that Iran has fought a proxy war against Israel since Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei’s 1979 Islamic Revolution where the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was driven from Iran. U.S. has not had diplomatic relations with Iran since Khomenei-backed Iranian radicals sacked the U.S. embassy in Tehran taking 52 U.S. citizens hostage for 444 days until 12 noon, minutes after Ronald Reagan was sworn in a U.S. president Jan. 20, 1981.
Former President Jimmy Carter hurt his chances for a second term with a failed hostage rescue effort in the summer before the 1980 election. Of course it also didn’t help Carter that the U.S. economy suffered from the worst inflation and economic stagnation since the Great Depression, prompting voters elect Reagan president. Since those days 40 years ago, Iran has fought an ongoing proxy war with Israel, arming Hamas terrorists to the south and Hezbollah terrorists to the north. Khomenei believed he could crush Israel, something the Palestinians and several other Arab states couldn’t do over the span of 70 years since Israel declared its independence May 14, 1948. Iran, that housed the Mideast’s biggest Jewish community for centuries, became Israel’s mortal enemy with Khomenei and how under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Three days before Fakhrizadeh’s targeted killing, Netanyahu met for the first time with 36-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh, discussing. Among other things, Iran’s Sept. 14, 2019 attack on Saudi’s Arabia’s largest oil refinery. Bin Salman said at the time he holds Iran responsible for the attack even though it was carried out by Yemen’s Iranian-armed Houthi militia. So, as Iran contemplates revenge against Israel, It can’t be dismissed that Bin Salman worked closely with Israel to pay Iran back to the Houthi missile attacks on Saudi oil installation. When Bin Salman met with Netanyahu on Nov. 23, Iranian-armed Houthis attacked a Saudi oil storage facility in Jeddah. When the remote-control, machine gun attack happened Nov. 27, it’s also possible it was coordinated with the CIA.
Whether 74-year-old President Donald Trump’[s a lame-duck or not, he has unfinished business with Iran. Trump remembers all too well Iran’s Jan 8 attack on U.S. forces in Iraq, injuring 100 troops. Trump said at the time he would reserve the right to retaliate at a time of his choosing, possibly Nov. 27 in a joint-operation with the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. Khamenei-backed conservatives in Iran’s parliament have called for an attack on the Mediterranean beach resort of Haifa, somewhere far removed from Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem in what’s known as Holy Sanctuary, one of the holiest sites next to Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. Iran, while Shiite Muslim, is considered apostates by Saudi Arabia Grand Mufti Abdullah Al-Sheikh. Yet Iran exploits the Palestinian cause to rally Arabas against Israel.
Iran isn’t happy about Trump’s recent peace deals involving United Arab Emirates [UAE], Bahrain and Sudan, all of which aren’t happy about Iran’s recent limpet mine attacks of oil tankers in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, If Iran attacks Haifa or any other Israeli asset on Trump’s watch, he won’t restrain himself because of his lame-duck status. Iran’s navy likes to use swift boats to encroach on U.S. vessels in the Persian Gulf, boarding on boat and seizing its crew in Jan. 12, 2016. It took some intense diplomacy by former President Barack Obama to get the 10-member crew released but not after humiliating videos watching U.S. crew cry-and-cower in fear. Trump never forgot that incident, realizing that Tehran would not under his watch run roughshod over U.S. sailors. Iran has been reluctant to engage Trump.
With Biden set at the helm, Iran will try to push the limits again, continuing to back proxy wars against Israel and Saudi Arabia. Trump withdrew May 8, 2018 from Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Actiion AKA “the Iranian Nuke Deal] precisely because of Iran’s proxy warss with Israel and Saudi Arabia. Iran’s Supreme Leader often calls for the end of Israel, more recently calling Israel a “cancerous tumor” May 22. If Iran attacks Israel of Trump’s watch, look for Trump to go out with a bang. Iran hasn’t attacked Israel yet because it fears Trump’s response, not one from President-elect Joe Biden. Calling U.S.-Iranian relations in the Persian Gulf “uneasy deterrence,” U.S. Vice Adm. Sam Paparo said U.S. warships were on high alert. When it comes to Israel, Iran thinks it can retaliate without U.S. consequence after Biden’s inauguration.
