There a diverse perspectives among Iranians in the diaspora, a common refrain is that regime change in this way is completely untenable.
Many Iranians feel that the US has put their families in far greater risk than existed before.
This clip brought to you by Mastodon's own @ChuckModi1
A Black American interviewed by @ChuckModi1 does an amazing job arguing Iran is NOT a distraction from the Epstein files.
In her view the Epstein files is nothing new. She asks, "what do you think they were doing during slavery?" connecting that sex trafficking and horrible crimes against children is an American legacy dating back to slavery & genocide of the Indians.
The leaders don't give a fuck that we know they're monsters, it's all business as usual.
So anyways, a lot of people are seeing through this Kurdish angle and are urging the diaspora to weigh their options more carefully.
CNN points out that many Iraqi Kurdish forces actually have normalized economic relations with Turkey and Iran which likely places large numbers of Kurds whom the US hope will support the war effort in an impossible situation.
CNN predicts that the Kurds will launch a ground attack before the end of the week.
US Senators leaving a closed door military briefing appeared upset and shaken at the apparent news that the US may be planning to a land invasion of Iran involving US troops (not just Kurdish separatist).
Multiple congress people voiced their concerns much like Blumenthal
#Blumenthal #DC #USPol #Iran #US #EpicFury #KhameneiAssassination
Rhode Island congressman Seth Magaziner had this to say about tonight's breifing
#RI #RhodeIsland #SethMagaziner #DC #EpicFury #EpicFailure #Iran #KhameneiAssassination
The strategy of having the Iraqi Kurds lead the charge, figuratively and seemingly physically, has some enourmous hurdles.
I think this CNN segment hits the nail on the head.
The Kurds are at best 10% of Iran's population. When the US last exploited them in Syria we had to provide them constant air patrols and special forces support for two years and the US ultimately betrayed the Syrian Kurds.
It's hard to imagine Iraqi Kurds having a different go of it
The US military's CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper gave an update on "Epic Fury" (more like epic failure).
There's so much wrong with his assessment I don't know where to start. Earlier in the thread I linked a blog post and video from Prof Robert Pape literally taught targeting strategy classes at US AirForce schools explains most of what the establishment is getting wrong right now 👇🏿
https://partyon.xyz/@nullagent/116166498265422657
#CENTCOM #BradCooper #EpicFury #EpicFailure #US #Iran #KhameneiAssassination
CW: Military SA occurs the most during deployments
So anyways, fuck that CENTCOM imperialst crusader shithead.
A lot of people are about to be seriously harmed by the US military and that doesn't stop at the enemy or civilizians. This sadly includes the US solders themselves.
The address which Ali Khamemei made on June 4th 2020, shortly after the death of George Floyd, is making the rounds again today.
In his remarks Khamemei says the knee on George Floyd's neck is the same one which has been on Iran's neck and many other countries around the world.
Folks may not know but this but Ali Khamemei's predecessor, Ruhollah Khomeini, showed solidarity with Black Americans and especially Black South Africans.
During the Iranian Revolution Ali Khamemei personally saw to it that all but one of the Black American hostages taken during the crisis were released first.
He specifically cited the history of oppression of Black Americans as his reason for commuting their sentences.
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/732139
https://english.khamenei.ir/news/7744/When-did-Imam-Khomeini-let-out-the-cry-of-Black-Lives-Matter
There's so much to be said about the course of battle, but I think most of us hardly know the guy whose death is really sparking this all off.
Despite the internal accusations and reality of the Iranian regime, their spokespeople moved through the leadership class in a way that Americans have clearly forgotten how to do.
In 2017 Ali Khamemei say that Malcolm X was a martyr and took the time in the UN to pay his respects.
One of Ali Khamemei's final remarks to his followers shows how steadfast his belief in the Iranian Revolution remained to the end.
The crowd cries as he states:
"My life has little value. I have a disabled body. I have a little bit of dignity, which you yourself have given me.
I put all of this on the line.
I am ready to sacrifice everything for the sake of this revolution and for Islam
May all this be sacrificed for you."
"You are the owner of this revolution"
Collective mourning for Khamemei continues, social life in Iran continues despite the intense bombing campaign all around this religious spaces.
A crowd was seen crying at the mention of "May Allah protect the Leader" during a sermon. The common refrain, no longer needed reminded the followers of their steadfast leader's brutal assassination.
And because my comments have been full of this Hijab commentary for the past year I wanna remind folks where Khamemei stood on the issue.
According to Ali Khamemei wearing a Hajib or not, or wearing it well vs badly was NOT a sign of being Anti-Revolutionary or against the state.
It was a simple personal choice to him, he reminded his followers that they are talking about their daughters and sisters and that they should respect this simple fashion choices.
The more I read about Ali Khamemei the more it really seems like regardless of his politics earlier in life he seems like a moderate who many westerners would expect leaders to be able to negotiate with.
He's a revolutionary, no doubt, and after seeing how the US elites felt after Luigi I can well see why they were terrified of Khamemei and the extremely militarily diligent regime he oversaw.
But at this point, he's just giving Luigi in old age grandpa vibes you know.
I keep looking at Iranian media and am just in shock with how organized their government is despite an assassination and thousands of US bombings in only a few days.
Meanwhile the Americans government is a total clusterfuck.
There is NO support right now for US citizens stranded in West Asia.
Many commercial airports are closed and the US really should be operating its own flights to get stranded citizens out.
While I rag on the Trump admin I know for a fact Democrats would have started this war too, they just would have kept the government customer service office open while doing so.
How do I know Dems would attack Iran?
Bc Hillary Clinton repeatedly said she WOULD no matter the stage of development be willing to attack Iran if she were in power.
There's been debate if that remark is out of context but I think she meant it.
https://www.factcheck.org/2020/01/video-of-clinton-on-iran-taken-out-of-context/
Iranians are continuing to take to the internet to explain how the regime under both Ali Khamemei & Ruhollah Khomeini resisted the urge for Iran to develop its own chemical weapons during the war with Iraq.
Iraq, with the backing of the West, committed countless war crimes gassing civilians.
EVEN during those conditions Khomeini & Khamemei remained steadfast AGAINST developing and deploying weapons of mass destruction.
Followers of Ali Khamemei (PBUH) are posting clips of his final address.
Khamemei urges his follows to not surrender to America and to stay focus on defeating Zionism.
He knew he would not live past the start of the war but he says I wishes he could see the day when the Zionist occupation has been defeated.
#KhameneiAssassination #MartyrKhamemei #Khamenei #Iran #Israel #Zionism
Iranian media published these images of the destruction in Tehran.
In this video you can see extensive damage to residential structures with some completely flattened.
First responders gear up to search the rubble for survivors.
Professor of Middle Studies Narges Bajoghli warns that we could be seeing Israel enacting their "Dahiya doctrine" upon Tehran.
The is "Dahiya doctrine" just a fancy name carpet bombing civilians.
#Dahiyadoctrine #Tehran #Iran #Israel #NargesBajoghli #WarCrimes #netanyahu
DEVELOPING - Overnight Iranians posted this video of what they claim is an F15 of F35 shortly after it was hit by antiair fire. Two pilots can -just- be seen parachuting into the mountains near Tehran.
The problem for Israel+US with enacting the "Dahiya doctrine" is that they simply do not have air superiority yet.
According to Iranina reports they claim to have shot down around 30 US+Israeli attack drones like the MQ-9 Predator in addition to this manned jet.
Israeli OSINT accounts are already accepting the report as likely true but are claiming it was an American pilot shotdown and not an Israeli.
We don't have solid confirmation either way just yet, to my eyes it doesn't look like any jet Iran operates but there's still a chance it could turn out to be an Iranian jet which was shotdown.
Will update as I hear more.
In Lebanon Hezbollah has started releasing a stream of professionally edited videos depicting precision strikes on invading Israeli troops.
This video shows the defenders of Lebanon hitting an Israeli Merkava tank with a missile from position kilometers away.
#hezbollah #lebanon #ResistanceAxis #Israel #KhameneiAssassination
Hezbollah has been releasing extensive drone footage from their planning of strikes.
They regularly fly drones over Israeli installations to collect intelligence for missile strikes and videos like this from years ago still seem to be providing Hezbollah critical intelligence.
Israel and the US down play the fact that decapitating Hezbollah's leadership and even invading Lebanon has had little to no effect on the combat readiness.
While Iranians & the rest of the resistance axis is eager to show the civilian toll along side the military reality Israel is responding with censorship.
CNN anchors have begun noting what they can and can't show on air.
In this segment a CNN anchor says they can film incoming missile strikes because it could give away air defense positions which is well and good I suppose but that's just the tip of the iceberg of Israeli censor ship....
When CNN's Turkish langauge anchor Emrah Çakmak and cameraman Halil Kahraman were doing a live report from the streets of Tel Aviv they were detained by authorities while on air.
After the run in with Israeli cops CNN anchor Emrah Çakmak showed how the authorities covered all of his phone cameras with tamper-evident stickers.
Israeli officials have reportedly stopped MANY journalist and onlookers from filming scenes of Iranian strikes.
Even filming the aftermath the next day in civilian areas can land journalist in hot water with Israeli police.
When cenorship and bombing civilians doesn't work the US and Israel resort to directly threatening Iranian dignitaries.
This morning U.S. envoy to the UN Mike Waltz threatened Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations Amir-Saeid Iravani:
“He should be careful with his words sitting on American so"
Protect that man!
#Iran #NYC #UN #MikeWaltz #AmirSaeidIravani #US #KhameneiAssassination
In other news I'd been wondering about @alissaazar perspective on the new regional conflict and am saddened to hear that the conflict is impacting people in our local journalism community.
Please be sure to follow and support Alissa Azar their on mastodon and other platforms
Israel issued evacuation orders for ALL of southern Lebanon. They continue to forcefully displace large amounts of people, destroying the land, and carry on endless murders. Israel never even stopped bombing Jnoub/ southern Lebanon since the supposed "ceasefire" and now they are attempting to destroy as much of the country as they can. Meanwhile the da3esh forces that many "leftists" in the west cheered on despite what many Syrians and SWANA minorities were saying and explaining are supporting Israel against Lebanon.
In the past 72 hours Iran has continued to pound targets throughout the middle east including within Israel.
Numerous reports over the weekend prove that Iran has been using ballastic missiles with cluster warheads which have been basically impossible for close in anti-aircraft weapons to shootdown once they split apart.
Important to note, Israel never signed the weapons ban on cluster munitions nor did Iran.
Today's kinda crazy for how I guess normal the Iran war seems for the region. Iranian DJ did a live stream earlier while bombs were falling in Tehran.
As strikes have intensified on Iran, the Iranians in-turn have continued to up their attacks on Israel. They've been clocking at least a dozen missile or drone strikes on Israeli targets most days.
Tonight Iran promised 3 hours of continuous ballistic missile strikes and delivered on that promise.
Tonight more missiles were equipped with cluster munitions. Strikes landed in Haifi, Tel Aviv & mil bases across the occupation.
#TelAviv #Haifa #Israel #Zionist #Iran #KhameneiAssassination #OilWar
The Iranians have been pushing their propaganda on multiple fronts.
On the sabre rattling side of the house Iran has been circulating this video of their under ground naval equipment.
A claim the US has been running with is that Iran can't possibly pose a threat to the straight of Hormuz if most of their large military ships are sunk.
But bru... they got thousands of missile boats, drones, ROVs & mines.
All in underground cities.
On the defense side, Iran has been showing a lot more about how they take down American MQ-9 Reaper drones.
The Iranians have built a "loitering munition", a drone that automatically flies a search pattern and manually or automatically finds and destroys US drones.
They claim dozens of MQ-9 downings now.
Overall Iran has an extremely impressive line up of missile technology and I'm not sure it's wise to think their missile boats and underground missile cities are out of commission.
Meanwhile the Israeli border war with Lebanon has seen continued precise drone and missile strikes launched by Hezbollah hitting valuable targets in Israel.
Today footage came out showing a missile striking an IOF comms station and first responders picking over the scrap
US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine spoke to the press today and said Iran has made him respect their ability to fight.
He clear states that Iran's strategy is working and that the US military is working hard to "adapt" he of course claims that the Occupation Axis (Israel+US) can out adapt Iran... which remains to be seen.
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