Earlier this month, Donald Trump warned Iran that if innocent protesters were killed, the United States would step in.
This week, it was reported that Iran appeared to farm out its brutality to local militia groups, which reportedly opened fire in the streets overnight.
Trump has now announced that an “armada” is headed in Iran’s direction, so it may just be a matter of time before Trump unleashes on Iran.
Donald Trump gave the media a nice little soundbite to start the year.
As reports started to surface about government brutality ramping up to deter protests in Iran, Trump stated that he would “come to their rescue.”
He added, "We are locked and loaded and ready to go.”
A senior adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei advised Trump to “be careful” before intervening.
Iran did not unleash its military against protesters, but it did appear to farm out the dirty work to local militias, as disturbing reports started to surface about gunfire in the middle of the night on Tuesday.
Ali Safavi, a senior official with the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), reported, “There has been a deployment of dozens of Toyotas mounted with heavy machine guns and other heavy weapons in Tehran. They are reportedly being used by elements linked to Lebanese Hezbollah and Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces.”
He continued, “Their commander speaks in Farsi, and these fighters are Iraqi Hashd al-Sha’bi, Popular Mobilization Force, and Hezbollah fighters who have joined the IRGC. The IRGC are their commanders, and you can hear them shouting in Farsi.”
Safavi further stated that dozens of bodies had been taken and buried in secret to conceal the assaults that had taken place.
Trump has stated that he is hoping to negotiate with Iran, but he is also clearly ready to take action. Trump stated, “We have a lot of ships going that direction just in case. We have a big flotilla going in that direction. And we’ll see what happens.”
Reports broke this week that the USS Abraham Lincoln, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, was headed in that direction, as well as three accompanying destroyers, so this is a serious show of force in the area.
This presents an interesting dilemma for Trump, even though the situations are starkly different. I can already see the line of attack by Democrats, saying that Trump is playing savior in Iran while dropping the hammer on American protesters over ICE.
This is apples and oranges, as ICE and federal agents are arresting protesters who are getting violent and assaulting agents. Iran is literally mowing down people in the streets. But as I have said before, Democrats seem to care little about the full context of anything these days. It is just about creating a sensationalistic headline.
