Guardian Exclusive spins SIS 'intelligence' on Iran tension

[Ghost Dog]

Two senior intelligence sources said that Qassem Suleimani, leader of Iran’s powerful Quds force, summoned the militias under Tehran’s influence three weeks ago, amid a heightened state of tension in the region. The move to mobilise Iran’s regional allies is understood to have triggered fears in the US that Washington’s interests in the Middle East are facing a pressing threat. The UK raised its threat levels for British troops in Iraq on Thursday.

While Suleimani has met regularly with leaders of Iraq’s myriad Shia groups over the past five years, the nature and tone of this gathering was different. “It wasn’t quite a call to arms, but it wasn’t far off,” one source said.

The meeting has led to a frenzy of diplomatic activity between US, British and Iraqi officials who are trying to banish the spectre of clashes between Tehran and Washington and who now fear that Iraq could become an arena for conflict.

The gathering partly informed a US decision to evacuate non-essential diplomatic staff from the US embassy in Baghdad and Erbil and to raise the threat status at US bases in Iraq. It also coincided with a perceived separate risk to US interests and those of its allies in the Persian Gulf and led to a heightened threat that more than a decade of proxy conflicts may spill over into a direct clash between Washington and Tehran...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/16/iran-tells-middle-east-militias-prepare-for-proxy-war

Well, first of all note the present tense used in head and sublines, when the meeting referred to was three weeks ago. Around three weeks ago, I recall, Iranian officials were saying that if attacked by the USA, they could retaliate against US assets in the region.



Oh, and select a sinister photo of Suleimani, naturally.

Then, the content nowhere emphasises that the US executive started this, by unilaterally withdrawing from the nuclear deal a year ago, imposing sanctions and ratcheting up the tension as acts of deliberate policy. Iran has until now been in full compliance with the deal and has been waiting for the EU to come up with a promised 'way round' the US sanctions, something that appears to be difficult. Iran now says it will cease to comply with some of the terms of the deal. The US continues to ratchet up tensions, and Iran's proxies are surely now on high alert, ready indeed to retaliate.

That the British in Iraq, Bahrein, Oman and elsewhere are also on higher alert, as will be the French, is one more ratchet wound on the wheel that rolls towards war, as Bolton has promised.