Aboard Air Force One on the return flight from his triumph in Davos, Switzerland, President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States has an "armada" heading toward Iran but hoped he would not have to use it, as he renewed warnings to Tehran against killing protesters or restarting its nuclear program.
Click here for a presentation prepared by CHQ Editor George Rasley for the American Security Council Foundation on if war with Iran is inevitable.
The deployments expand the options available to Trump, both to better defend U.S. forces throughout the region at a moment of tensions and to take any additional military action after striking Iranian nuclear sites in June.
Reuters reported that U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and several guided-missile destroyers will arrive in the Middle East in the coming days.
"We have a lot of ships going that direction, just in case …I'd rather not see anything happen, but we're watching them very closely," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on his way back to the United States after speaking to world leaders in Davos, Switzerland. The President added: "We have an armada ... heading in that direction, and maybe we won't have to use it." The strike group is expected to arrive on station as early as today.
One official said additional air-defense systems were also being eyed for the Middle East, which could be critical to guard against any Iranian strike on U.S. bases in the region.
The warships started moving from the Asia-Pacific last week as tensions between Iran and the United States soared following a severe crackdown on protests across Iran in recent weeks, Reuters reported.
Earlier this week appeared that the President’s vacillation on whether or not to assist the Iranian people in their efforts to throw off the despicable theocracy that oppresses them and threatens the United States with nuclear weapons had once again saved the Ayatollahs.
President Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene against Iran over the recent killings of protesters there, however the protests dwindled last week in the wake of the regime’s vicious response.
Claims that the Ayatollahs canceled nearly 840 hangings after his threats have been shown to be empty propaganda as many prisoners have simply been executed by means other than the public hangings usually favored by the Islamic Republic.
Asked how many protesters were killed, Trump said: "Nobody knows... I mean, it's a lot, no matter what." The Ayatollahs have admitted to a death toll of around 5,000, however independent reports indicated it is at least 20,000, with many dumped in unmarked mass graves.
Iran’s Judiciary Chief even admits the regime lied to Trump—and reiterated his vow of mass executions: FLASH UPDATE
The horrific torture awaiting captured Iranian protesters, such Erfan Soltani, who was reportedly beaten to death inside one of the regime's 'slaughterhouse' jails where inmates face gang-rape, electric shocks to the genitals and having their nails pulled out.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15470531/horrific-torture-awaiting-captured-Iranian-protesters-Inside-regimes-slaughterhouses.html
There is also mounting evidence that the Ayatollahs used chemical weapons against the Iranian people they govern with increasingly barbaric ferocity.
It is unclear whether protests in Iran could reignite. The protests began on December 28 as modest demonstrations in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar over economic hardship and quickly spread nationwide.
So, what happens now?
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has correctly told the President that his credibility, and the credibility of the United States, will suffer if Trump does not follow through on his statement that “help is on the way.”
According to a recent Rasmussen Reports survey, 57% of Republicans would approve of U.S. military action to help overthrow Ayatollah Khamenei. Many Trump supporters are concerned the President blew his credibility as soon as the piles of dead Iranian bodies appeared online, yet he did nothing after he told them help was on the way and he was “locked and loaded.”
President Trump will have a lot of work to do to gain that credibility back, not only with the Iranian people, who relied upon his statement “help is on the way,” but with our enemies who are already gloating that he backed down after being suckered by the Ayatollahs’ lies.
The blow to President Trump’s credibility on the world stage is a legitimate concern, but we are even more concerned about the lack of strategic vision on the part of Trump’s inner circle that has been disclosed by his vacillation on Iran.
So, is war with Iran inevitable?
Unfortunately, the answer is YES because in matters of war and peace the enemy always has a vote.
Whether we admit it or accept it the Islamic Republic of Iran declared war on the United States in 1979, here are a few examples:
Everyone who is realistic about the now 47-year-old war Iran’s theocratic regime declared on America knows that regime change is the only way to permanently stop Iran’s drive to acquire nuclear weapons.
The weakness of Iran’s system of Wilayat al-Faqih has never been more obvious and the opportunity to undermine it from within rarely greater. If we want to end the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran, the time to decapitate the Iranian theocracy and replace it with something else is now.
George Rasley is editor of Richard Viguerie's ConservativeHQ.com and is a veteran of over 300 political campaigns. A member of American MENSA, he served on the staff of Vice President Dan Quayle, as Director of Policy and Communication for former Congressman Adam Putnam (FL-12) then Vice Chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee's Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, and as spokesman for retired Rep. Mac Thornberry formerly a member of the House Intelligence Committee and Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
Click here for a presentation prepared by CHQ Editor George Rasley for the American Security Council Foundation on if war with Iran is inevitable.
The deployments expand the options available to Trump, both to better defend U.S. forces throughout the region at a moment of tensions and to take any additional military action after striking Iranian nuclear sites in June.
Reuters reported that U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and several guided-missile destroyers will arrive in the Middle East in the coming days.
"We have a lot of ships going that direction, just in case …I'd rather not see anything happen, but we're watching them very closely," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on his way back to the United States after speaking to world leaders in Davos, Switzerland. The President added: "We have an armada ... heading in that direction, and maybe we won't have to use it." The strike group is expected to arrive on station as early as today.
One official said additional air-defense systems were also being eyed for the Middle East, which could be critical to guard against any Iranian strike on U.S. bases in the region.
The warships started moving from the Asia-Pacific last week as tensions between Iran and the United States soared following a severe crackdown on protests across Iran in recent weeks, Reuters reported.
Earlier this week appeared that the President’s vacillation on whether or not to assist the Iranian people in their efforts to throw off the despicable theocracy that oppresses them and threatens the United States with nuclear weapons had once again saved the Ayatollahs.
President Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene against Iran over the recent killings of protesters there, however the protests dwindled last week in the wake of the regime’s vicious response.
Claims that the Ayatollahs canceled nearly 840 hangings after his threats have been shown to be empty propaganda as many prisoners have simply been executed by means other than the public hangings usually favored by the Islamic Republic.
Asked how many protesters were killed, Trump said: "Nobody knows... I mean, it's a lot, no matter what." The Ayatollahs have admitted to a death toll of around 5,000, however independent reports indicated it is at least 20,000, with many dumped in unmarked mass graves.
Iran’s Judiciary Chief even admits the regime lied to Trump—and reiterated his vow of mass executions: FLASH UPDATE
The horrific torture awaiting captured Iranian protesters, such Erfan Soltani, who was reportedly beaten to death inside one of the regime's 'slaughterhouse' jails where inmates face gang-rape, electric shocks to the genitals and having their nails pulled out.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15470531/horrific-torture-awaiting-captured-Iranian-protesters-Inside-regimes-slaughterhouses.html
There is also mounting evidence that the Ayatollahs used chemical weapons against the Iranian people they govern with increasingly barbaric ferocity.
It is unclear whether protests in Iran could reignite. The protests began on December 28 as modest demonstrations in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar over economic hardship and quickly spread nationwide.
So, what happens now?
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has correctly told the President that his credibility, and the credibility of the United States, will suffer if Trump does not follow through on his statement that “help is on the way.”
According to a recent Rasmussen Reports survey, 57% of Republicans would approve of U.S. military action to help overthrow Ayatollah Khamenei. Many Trump supporters are concerned the President blew his credibility as soon as the piles of dead Iranian bodies appeared online, yet he did nothing after he told them help was on the way and he was “locked and loaded.”
President Trump will have a lot of work to do to gain that credibility back, not only with the Iranian people, who relied upon his statement “help is on the way,” but with our enemies who are already gloating that he backed down after being suckered by the Ayatollahs’ lies.
The blow to President Trump’s credibility on the world stage is a legitimate concern, but we are even more concerned about the lack of strategic vision on the part of Trump’s inner circle that has been disclosed by his vacillation on Iran.
So, is war with Iran inevitable?
Unfortunately, the answer is YES because in matters of war and peace the enemy always has a vote.
Whether we admit it or accept it the Islamic Republic of Iran declared war on the United States in 1979, here are a few examples:
- The Teheran Embassy hostage taking (1979)
- Hostage taking in Lebanon (1982 - 1992)
- The Beirut Marine Barracks and U.S. Embassy bombings (1983)
- Pan Am Flight 103 destroyed over Lockerbie, Scotland (1988)
- Mining the Persian Gulf and harassment of shipping (1988)
- Truck bombing at the Khobar Towers in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia (1996)
- Provided material support to the 9/11 hijackers (2000 – 2001)
- Iranians Charged with Cyber Plots Against U.S. Banks, Dam (2016)
- Iranian Spy Ring, Ahmadreza Doostar and Majid Ghorbani, Indicted for spying in the United States (2018)
- Ongoing assassinations and attacks on U.S. interests, including terror plots right here in the United States
- Ongoing supplying anti-American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan with training, sophisticated improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and explosively formed projectiles (EFPs) and other weapons
Everyone who is realistic about the now 47-year-old war Iran’s theocratic regime declared on America knows that regime change is the only way to permanently stop Iran’s drive to acquire nuclear weapons.
The weakness of Iran’s system of Wilayat al-Faqih has never been more obvious and the opportunity to undermine it from within rarely greater. If we want to end the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran, the time to decapitate the Iranian theocracy and replace it with something else is now.
George Rasley is editor of Richard Viguerie's ConservativeHQ.com and is a veteran of over 300 political campaigns. A member of American MENSA, he served on the staff of Vice President Dan Quayle, as Director of Policy and Communication for former Congressman Adam Putnam (FL-12) then Vice Chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee's Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, and as spokesman for retired Rep. Mac Thornberry formerly a member of the House Intelligence Committee and Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
