Still, attacking Marx is one of the many options U.S. officials believe the Iranian regime is considering in retaliation, as General, Qasim Solimani was assassinated by an American drone attack in January. At the time, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States had assassinated Soleimani in a bid to get rid of Iran.
At the behest of the intelligence community known as “Duty to Warning”, U.S. Intelligence agencies are required to notify potential victims if intelligence indicates that their lives may be in danger; U.S. In the case of government officials, credible threats will be included in the briefing and security plan. A U.S. government official said the signs were alerted to the threat. The CIA World Intelligence Review also includes this intelligence, known as WIRe, a classified product that is accessible to senior US government policy and security officials, as well as some legislators and their staff.
Marcus, 66, was sworn in as US ambassador last October. She has known Trump for more than two decades and is a member of his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. Trump’s critics have denounced him as a “handbag designer”, but his supporters have responded that he is a successful businessman – a handbag named after him runs numerous 40,000 – with numerous international connections. A personal friend of the late Princess Diana, she was also born in South Africa and speaks several major languages of the country, including Afrikaans and Xhosa.
The intelligence community is not sure why the Iranians will target Marx, who has some who have known links to Iran. It is possible that the Iranian people considered his long friendship with Trump, a US government official said.
The Iranian government also operates intelligence networks in South Africa and has been there for decades, officials have noted. In 2015, Al Jazeera and The Guardian reported on classified intelligence documents detailing an extensive secret network of Iranian operatives in South Africa. In other parts of the world, such as Western Europe, the U.S. Signs can be an even easier target than diplomats, where U.S. Together there are stronger ties with local law enforcement and intelligence services.
Iran’s Islamist leaders have a history of carrying out assassinations outside their country’s borders, as well as tying up hostages who seized power after a popular uprising in the late 1990s. In recent decades, Iran has generally been a major player in the U.S. Diplomats have avoided being targeted, although Iranian-backed forces have been able to reach U.S. Diplomatic facilities have long been attacked on the go.
Trump accused the Iranian general of plotting an attack on the US diplomatic mission after Soleimani’s assassination, although US officials later expressed doubts about his claim. “They will blow up our embassies,” Trump said, referring to the huge, heavily fortified American diplomatic compound in Iraq in January. Later, in an interview with Fox News, he said, “I can reveal that I believe it might be four embassies.”
In the days following Soleimani’s death, Iran launched a ballistic missile Salvo at an Iraqi military base that housed U.S. troops, inflicting traumatic brain injuries on dozens of U.S. soldiers. Trump has refused to retaliate, saying “Iran seems to be standing on its own two feet, which is a good thing for all parties involved and a very good thing for the world” – although it has announced new sanctions on the Iranian regime and Warned. .
However, some analysts said at the time that Iran would probably look for other ways to avenge Solimani’s death. According to media reports, U.S. The head of Central Command, General Kenneth McKenzie, topped Iran’s hit list earlier this year. McKenzie said last month that he expected a new “response” from Iraq to the US presence in Iraq.
“I don’t know what the response will be, but if it happens, we will definitely be ready for it,” he said. On Wednesday, Mackenzie reaffirmed plans to reduce the US troop presence in Iraq from 5,200 to 3,000 by the end of September.
During the forum online forum in August Gust, McKenzie said Iran is “our central problem” in the region, and acknowledged that US efforts in Iraq are complicated by the fear of Iranian proxies against ISIS, the radical Sunni terrorist organization and the movement. “Because of the threat posed by Shia terrorist groups to our forces, we have put in place resources that we would otherwise be able to use for our own defense and have diminished our ability to function effectively,” he said.
The White House-based National Security Council did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Neither an Iranian official with the Iranian mission to the United Nations, nor an official from the South African embassy in Washington. A spokesman for the State Department, the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment.
U.S. And Iran has been a staunch enemy for decades, openly confronting each other – and at other times engaging in diplomacy – but increasingly waging a vague fight for power and influence in much of the Middle East. Under Trump, both countries have turned to clear military conflict on more than one occasion.
Last summer, the U.S. blamed Iran and its proxies for a series of bombings targeting oil tankers. Iran shot down a US drone, and the USA later succeeded in bringing down an Iranian drone.
Trump admitted that, after Iran landed the US drone, he had given it the power to strike almost directly on Iranian soil, but scattered when it said let 150 hundred people die – a toll he said was disproportionate.
Disputes between the countries intensified in the months that followed, particularly in Iraq, where the U.S. and U.S. Have long been engaged in proxy combat. In December, an American contractor was killed in Iraq following an attack by Iranian allied forces. The U.S. responded by bombing locations organized by the group and killing about two dozen of its fighters. Shortly afterwards, protesters believed that parts of the military compound at the U.S. embassy compound in Baghdad were being breached.
Then, in early January, the United States carried out an air strike, in which Soleimani was visiting Baghdad. The importance given to Soleimani in Iran was a major boost, although U.S. officials described it as a defensive measure.
Soleimani led the Kuds Force, a unit of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which oversees most of the country’s military activities outside its borders. The Americans have blamed him for killing countless U.S. troops in the region.
Iran vowed revenge. His first major move was a January 8 missile strike on Iraq’s al-Assad military base. But at the same time, Iranian missiles shot down a civilian plane, killing 176 people and leading to condemnation abroad for the regime’s incompetence and leading to outrage inside Iran.
Iran and South Africa have cooperated on many fronts in recent decades, including the United Nations, where South Africa has at times sided with Iran. South Africa’s uranium deposits are believed to be of great interest to Iran as it pursues its nuclear program, which Tehran has always insisted was not for bombs but for peaceful purposes. The pair have a military relationship, with some signing basic defense pats.
Plots linked to bizarre Iran have been exposed before.
Nearly a decade ago, the U.S. arrested and eventually sentenced an Iranian-American man to life in prison for allegedly trying to assassinate the killer of a Mexican drug cartel, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States, while calling him Cafe Milano. Dine at a shaky Washington restaurant. Often by the rich and powerful of the city. The U.S. accused Soleimani of overseeing the plot.
