Iran Launches 'Massive' War Drills: Codename 'Towards Jerusalem'

At this point you almost have to laugh...if the consequences weren't so serious. Of course, this will be conveniently ignored, just as the repeated calls for Israel's destruction are ignored:

Iran Launches Massive War Drills

Iranian military forces launched a series of “massive military drills” across nine provinces on Wednesday following an order by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to state media reports.

The drills, codenamed “Towards Jerusalem,” will continue over the coming days and throughout the rest of the year.

At least three battalions of Iran’s “fast reaction” Basij Force participated in the drills, which come as Western nations and Iran try to finalize a deal aimed at halting the country’s contested nuclear program.

A lieutenant commander of one of the volunteer fighting battalions said that the drills are meant to show off Iran’s ability to confront enemies at key points across the country, according to Iran’s state-run Fars News Agency.

“The main purpose for these war games is to retain preparedness and increase the combat capability of the forces to confront any possible move by domestic and foreign enemies,” Hossein Karimi, lieutenant commander of the Golestan’s Neynava Corps, was quoted as saying.

Additional fighting brigades will enter the war games over the next few days and at other points throughout the year, according to Karimi.

State-run media published multiple pictures of the armed Iranian forces battling through explosions and taking enemy forces hostage.

The “Towards Jerusalem” military drills began on the same day that Iran dispatched a destroyer, helicopter carrier warship, and heavy submarine to East Asian waters.

These military maneuvers also come just a day after back-to-back blasts at the Iranian Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killed 23 and wounded more than 100 others.

Iranian officials immediately blamed Israel for the attack, despite an al Qaeda-affiliated group having publicly claimed responsibility.

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei threatened to crush Iran’s enemies during a Wednesday address to some 50,000 fighters.

Khamenei singled out Israel in particular, calling it a scourge on the region.

“Supporting the miserable Zionist regime … will be a source of defamation for the Europeans and of course the French nation should find a remedy for it,” Khamenei was quoted as saying by Fars.

He went on to tell “arrogant powers” in the world that “instead of threatening other countries,” they should “go and deal with your wretched economic conditions and think of you debts.”

Hamas: Our Rockets Will Reach North Of Tel Aviv

Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas member of parliament andsenior figure in the terrorist organization, threatened increased Hamas missile range in the next confrontation, saying that if Israel struck Gaza, Hamas would fire missiles at "targets north of Tel Aviv."

Al-Masri, who spoke at an event organized by Hamas students to commemorate a year since the IDF's counter-terror Operation Pillar of Defense, claimed that Israel "will be surprised by the abilities of the Al-Qassam Brigades."

On Monday al-Masri similarly claimed that Hamas now has missiles with a100 kilometer (62 mile) range, putting Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in their sights.

The threats were confirmed last Friday when Colonel Amos Hacohen, head of the IDF's Southern Gaza Brigade, assessed that Hamas continues to greatly expand and improve its missile arsenal. The missiles are largely produced in Gaza following Egypt's crackdown on Sinai smuggling.

Iran Stands Fast On Arak Heavy Water Reactor For Plutonium-Fired Nuclear Weapon

The Iranian negotiators face the delegations of six world powers in Geneva Thursday, Nov. 21, with strict orders not to give ground on the two major sticking points holding up a first-step deal on their nuclear program: The heavy water reactor under construction at Arak for producing plutonium and Iran’s “right” to uranium enrichment. If Iran gains those two points, whatever concessions its negotiators may come up with are worthless, because they will leave Tehran in possession of two optional nuclear weaponizing tracks instead of one - plutonium as well as enriched uranium.

But concession of this “right” has a more sinister purpose: It would give Iran’s nuclear aspirations the enormous boost of an international license to keep its uranium enrich facilities, including the underground plant in Fordo and the centrifuge production line, fully intact and ready to go at any time.

The infrastructure already standing, say US intelligence sources, is capable of topping up enriched uranium stockpiles already in hand to the amount needed for five nuclear bombs in less than a month – 26 days is the number often cited.
The second option of plutonium would also be available when the Arak reactor is finished.

And what compromise can be expected when Washington failed to challenge Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s avowal on Day One of the Geneva talks that Iran will not step back “one iota” from its nuclear rights, and his grotesquely barbaric rant against Israel as “the roguish, filthy, rabid dog of the region,” whose regime is “doomed to extinction?”

Liberman: Letting Iran Enrich Uranium Will Set Off Regional Nuclear Race

Recently reinstated Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman warned that should the international community allow Iran to continue enriching uranium — as the emerging deal between world powers and Tehran in Geneva is rumored to do — it will lead to a nuclear race in the region on a scale “that even the most nightmarish Hollywood horror movie could not come close to depicting.

“If the world legitimizes the Iranian demand to recognize its ‘right to enrich uranium,’ all the countries in the region will soon demand this same ‘right,’ and that will set off a nuclear race,” Liberman said at a conference in Eilat.

“We will know how to handle the Iranian threat, even if we stand alone. The threat is not just directed at us. The consequences [will be felt] across the Persian Gulf, Saudi Arabia, the price of oil and gas. [The consequences] will be catastrophic for the whole world.”

Liberman addressed the Netanyahu government’s recent clash with the United States over the emerging deal taking shape in Geneva — as talks entered their third day Friday — calling for a more measured approach toward Israel’s closest ally.

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