|
Iranian Pasdaran (Revolutionary Guard) Threatens To Abduct US Troops
Iran's Revolutionary Guard, the Pasdaran, have threatened to abduct US troops if Washington does not release five Iranian officials kidnapped in the northern Iraqi town of Erbil in a raid on Tehran's consulate earlier this year. In an article published by the Pasdaran's mouthpiece, Sobhe Sadegh, the director of the centre for strategic studies of the Iranian presidency, Reza Zakeri, also says Iran will retaliate against any further abduction of Iranian nationals.Five Iranian officials were detained in the Kurdish-controlled city on charges of being connected to a faction of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, the Pasdaran, that funds and arms insurgents in Iraq. "The United States has put together a list including the names of 35 high officials of the Pasdaran and Iran's atomic agency to kidnap and question them on the military and nuclear potential of the Islamic Republic but if they will try to kidnap even one person our reaction will be harsh and immediate," Zakeri wrote in the article. The article follows a report in the Washington Post last week saying that the Bush administration has authorized US troops to kill or capture Iranian operatives in Iraq. The Washington Post reported that the so-called 'kill or capture' programme of the Bush administration was authorized by the president himself at a meeting with top advisers earlier last autumn in a bid to diminish Iran's influence across the Middle East and convince the country to ultimately give up its nuclear programme. The idea reportedly gained momentum after the 34-day war between Israel and Lebanese militia Hezbollah, armed by Iran, which ended with a fragile ceasefire on 14 August. "The US military presence in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Caucasus, central Asia, Europe and Latin America is significant and at the same time extremely isolated and therefore abducting a US soldier in uniform is less expensive than buying a low quality product made in China," the article also said. Stressing how the Mahdi militia of Shiite radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who have no military preparation, were able to kidnap US soldiers, the Sobhe Sadegh article claimed it would be an easy enough task for the well-trained Pasdaran. "Even if a state had no influence in the country where US troops were posted and had no close relations with local forces and, finally, even if it did not have well-trained officers for similar actions, it would not be difficult to capture blond men with blue eyes wearing a military uniform, it would just be necessary to open a wallet and be generous," Reza Zakeri concluded. Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-01-30 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=179137 |