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US says seized weapons show that Iran is a regional threat
[IsraelTimes] Washington accuses Tehran of violating arms export ban to Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
and Afghanistan, says it is ’relentless’ in its efforts to arm proxies


US officials on Thursday displayed military equipment they said confirms that Iran is increasingly supplying weapons to bully boyz across the Middle East and is continuing its missile program unabated.

At a military hangar in Washington, Brian Hook, the US special representative for Iran, showed news hounds a collection of guns, rockets, drones and other gear. Some of these had been intercepted in the Strait of Hormuz en route to Shia fighters in the region while others had been seized by the Saudis in Yemen, the Pentagon said.

Hook showed images of a Sayyad-2 surface-to-air missiles with the words "The Hunter Missile" in Farsi on its side, which he said was intercepted in Yemen by Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
this year.

The advanced weapon, Hook said, was exported to aid the Houthi
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ...
rebels, marking a violation of a UN resolution ban on exporting weaponry to the besieged country.

"The conspicuous Farsi markings are Iran’s way of saying they don’t mind being caught violating US resolutions," Hook said. He added that the material shows Tehran’s "relentless commitment to put even more weapons into even more of hands of even more of its proxies."

Hook also showed news hounds a display that included anti-tank missile systems that Iran was exporting to Yemen and Afghanistan, which he said revealed that the Islamic Theocratic Republic’s intention to "undermine regional instability has expanded."

The US special envoy recently returned from a trip to the Middle East, when he visited Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

According to an Axios report, Israeli officials told him in meetings they were incensed that the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency was not looking into findings Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released over the summer that revealed the extent to which Iran has tried to build a nuclear arsenal.

Hook reportedly said the administration would pressure the agency to look into the disclosures, with State Department officials saying that America’s new ambassador to the IAEA, Jackie Wolcott, would "work aggressively to make sure the IAEA seriously addresses all information provided by Israel, the US and other countries regarding the Iranian nuclear program."

Hook’s publicizing an intelligence finding that was the result of US-Saudi cooperation also comes amid controversy over the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and an inflamed debate over America’s oldest ally in the Middle East.

Israel has long accused Iran of trying to destabilize the region. Iran has repeatedly denied these allegations.

Hook on Thursday stressed that Iran’s missile exports were increasing the possibility of a larger conflagration.

"The Iranian threat is growing, and we are accumulating risk of escalation in the region if we fail to act," Hook said. "We are one missile attack away from regional conflict."

US Shows New Evidence Of Iranian Weaponry In Afghanistan

[ToloNews] The United States on Thursday displayed pieces of what it said were Iranian weapons deployed to hard boyz in Afghanistan and Yemen.

The second presentation of Iranian weapons by the Pentagon, many of which were handed over by Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
, coincides with growing concern in Congress over US military support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen's civil war, which has led to a deep humanitarian crisis, Rooters said in a report.

Brian Hook, the US Special Representative for Iran, told news hounds the Iranian threat is growing and warned of an "accumulating risk of escalation" in the region if the United States fails to act.

"Today we are unveiling Iran's Sayyad-2 C surface to air missile which you see behind me. This missile was designed and manufactured in Iran and the writing in Farsi on its side translates as 'the hunter missile.' The conspicuous Farsi markings is Iran's way of saying they don't mind being caught violating UN resolutions," Hook said.

"Fajr rockets have also been added to the display and are located next the anti-tank guided missiles. These weapons were recovered in Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
, near Kandahar Air Field, by the Afghan National Army from the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
. Iran has been providing materiel support to the Taliban since at least 2007. These same rockets have been used by Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", in the past," he added.

Giving more details on the weaponry, he said: "To my left is a new unmanned aerial system: the Shahed 123. We have debris from a Shahed which was recovered by coalition forces in Afghanistan after it crashed, as well as Shahed components that were interdicted in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
in early 2018."

The presentation, the second such one in the last year, is part of a government-wide effort to follow through on Trump's policy to take a far harder line toward Tehran.

The US president pulled the United States out of the Iran nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions, in part for its "malign" regional activities.

Iran has often denied any aid to the Taliban in Afghanistan. Meanwhile,
...back at the palazzo, Count Guido stepped from behind the suit of armor, rapier in hand. Ciccolini snarled and reached for his own weapon...
Iran has denied supplying the Houthis in Yemen with such weaponry and described the Pentagon's previous arms display as "fabricated."

Iran’s Embassy in Kabul in a statement meanwhile rejected the remarks by Brian Hook and called them "baseless".

The statement said that these remarks are aimed at justifying some "hurriedly and non-transparent" attempts by US in Afghanistan and damaging the growing relations of Iran and Afghanistan.

Taliban in a statement has labeled the US findings as "baseless"
Posted by: trailing wife 2018-12-01
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=528733