US to Iran: There’s A New Marshal in Town

                            by David Parmer

In US Western movies when a new law officer comes to clean up a corrupt town or replace a weak response to crime with a strong one, and deal with the “bad hombres,” it is said “There’s a new Marshal in town.”

“Iran is playing with fire–they don’t appreciate how ‘kind’ President Obama was to them. Not me! “ (Donald Trump, Twitter February 3, 2017)

When asked whether his administration’s tough new posture could mean a military strike, Trump answered, “Nothing’s off the table.” (Washington Post, February 2, 2017)

And just a day earlier, on February 1, Mr. Trump’s National Security Advisor, Michael Flyn made a special announcement, telling the world that Iran is “on notice” after conducting a ballistic missile test on January 29th.

So there is no doubt about the message from Washington. It came loud and clear: There is a new marshal in town. And from now on, things will be different vis-a-vis Iran. Much different.

During the election and after the election, candidate Trump and then President Trump sent out a strong anti-Iran message. Trump tweeted about the Iran nuclear deal, and how Washington had foolishly released Iran’s billions.

Israel and Saudi Arabia were on the same page, criticizing the nuclear deal that had been hammered out after long and hard negotiations by Iran and the international community.

The Iranians were having none of it. Iran’s VON news agency reported on February 7 that Iran’s Supreme Leader Seyyed Ali Khameni when addressing Iran Air Force members prior to the 38th anniversary of the Islamic revolution stated: “Iranians are not afraid of threats.”

Al Jazeera reported on February 7,  that during the same speech, the Supreme Leader went on to say:

“We are thankful to this gentleman … he showed the real face of America,” Khamenei said in a speech to military officers in Tehran on Tuesday.

“[It was] what we have said for more than 30 years – that there is political, economic, moral and social corruption in the ruling system of the US. This gentleman came and brought it out into the open in the election and after the election.”

But Khameni didn’t stop there, he responded to Trump’s tweet about being kind by saying that the former (Obama) administration was responsible for the creation of Daesh and the problems in Iraq and Iran.

On February 10 IRNA News reported that, Iran’s Major General Yahya Rahmin Safavi, former commander of the Revolutionary Guards and advisor to Khameni said that the “triangle of evil” (US, UK, Israel) could not pose any threat against Iran.

So the gauntlet has been thrown down. A war of words in ongoing. The question now is: How will these words turn into action? One answer is more sanctions from the US against persons and institutions of the Islamic Republic. Another response might be covert action against Iran’s proxies in the region.

One worrying scenario would be armed confrontation between US and Iran naval or air forces in the region. In January 2016 two US navy boats were seized by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, and the world saw pictures of American sailors in surrender mode before the Revolutionary Guard. This incident is only a year old and certainly fresh in the minds of many who saw the US diplomatic response as weak. Given the current mindset in Washington regarding Iran, one could expect a strong, forceful and decisive military response should anything of a similar nature take place.

There has been no “dialing back” of rhetoric on either side, and seemingly no intention on Washington’s part to do so. So tensions will remain high and the possibility for military action is a real probability. 

Photo:kate gabrielle via flickr (Creative Commons)