Iran launched its first-ever direct retaliatory strike against the Israeli state in April following the bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria. While that response was considered measured by analysts, it's unlikely Iran will pull its punches after the assassination of Hamas' political leader in Tehran.
As the world awaits Iran's response to the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, the waiting itself suggests the retaliation will come in the form of a "big strike," independent journalist Jim Kavanagh told Sputnik.
Since the Haniyeh killing, as well as that of Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr, both Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah have vowed to response.
As Khamenei issued an order for a direct strike during an emergency meeting in the aftermath of the assassination, Nasrallah has promised a "impactful and effective response." Reports have indicated that the waiting game is part of the response.
"The longer they take, it seems to me - again, we're all guessing, we're all speculating, I don't know what's happening ... but it seems to me the longer they take that just means they're more seriously preparing," Kavanagh told Radio Sputnik's Critical Hour on Friday. "They're getting ready for what they're going to do offensively and they're getting ready for what they can do defensively."
"It looks to me like it's going to be a big strike and, as you say, they're not taking the calls of the Americans and the Europeans to say, 'oh, please don't do this,' or 'please don't do that,' or 'you might start a big war.' They're saying if a big war comes to this, you should've started, you should've restrained Israel weeks ago, months ago and that's their problem," the journalist emphasized.
"The end of this, however long it takes, whatever starts, it's going to be a situation in which either Israel is going to continue killing anybody it wants, any number of people it wants, anywhere it wants, anyhow it wants, or - in which case Israel will have won a strategic victory - or there'll be a situation, which would be a first, in which Israel will have been hurt so badly that it's forced to back off from killing anybody it wants, whenever it wants, etc.," Kavanagh said.....more below
Any moment now I am expecting John Cleese (a veteran of Monty Python) to jump out of the bushes and announce the creation of the Ministry of Silly Wars, with Donald Trump as the deranged leader. For you youngsters out there, Monty Python’s skit, The Ministry of Silly Walks, helped make the members of MP legends. I had to reference Monty Python because the line of bullshit the Trump administration is feeding the American people and the world about the amazing, obliterating US attack on Iranian nuclear sites on Sunday morning, is more ridiculous that all of the silly walks pictured in the following video:
My hopes that Donald Trump would finally act like a responsible adult are dashed. He’s a dangerous buffoon. While the team around him are working frantically to maintain the fiction that Trump has a vision and is calling the shots on the foreign policy front, he is careening around the globe like an out-of-control cue ball on a billiards table. It started a week ago… first, he claimed...
Tuesday marks the third anniversary of the launch of the Fujian, China's first aircraft carrier equipped with electromagnetic catapults. Official media said China is about to enter a three-aircraft-carrier era, with the Fujian expected to enter service by 2025.
After the launch of the Fujian on June 17, 2022, it carried out its first sea trial from May 1 to 8 in 2024. Since then, the Fujian has completed multiple sea trials, accumulating more than 100 days of sea trial, China Central Television (CCTV) News reported on Tuesday.
Wei Dongxu, a Chinese military affairs commentator, said that the aircraft carrier Fujian has been making steady progress in sea trials, and is expected to be commissioned within this year, CCTV News reported.
With a full displacement of more than 80,000 tons, the Fujian is the world's first conventionally powered aircraft carrier to feature electromagnetic catapult technologies, according to CCTV News. The report noted that it will carry a wide variety of carrier-borne...
Chinese President Xi Jinping said Tuesday that China and Central Asian countries have explored and formed the China-Central Asia Spirit, which features mutual respect, mutual trust, mutual benefit, mutual assistance, and the pursuit of common modernization through high-quality development.
Xi made the remarks in his speech at the second China-Central Asia Summit in the Kazakh capital of Astana.
Xi said that the Chinese side has decided to establish three cooperation centers and a trade facilitation platform within the China-Central Asia cooperation mechanism.
When addressing the summit, Xi said these institutions include the China-Central Asia poverty reduction cooperation center, the China-Central Asia education exchange cooperation center, the China-Central Asia desertification control cooperation center, as well as the China-Central Asia trade facilitation cooperation....more below
