Iran preparing to ‘shut down Israel's war machine'
Tehran is gearing up to decisively counter Israel's military operations, and intends to 'shut down the regime's war machine,' a senior Iranian security official told RT exclusively on Sunday.
Israel and Iran have been engaged in a fierce exchange of fire for three consecutive days. According to Israel's emergency service Magen David Adom, Iranian strikes have killed at least ten people, bringing the total death toll to 13. In Iran, Israeli strikes have caused at least 406 deaths and 654 injuries, according to the group Human Rights Activists. The Iranian government has not released official casualty figures yet.
'Iran has been preparing for a long war,' the official told RT, emphasizing the country's resolve to confront Israel. According to the source, millions of Iranians rallied in the streets on Saturday, defying West Jerusalem's attacks, and demanding retribution. 'This is an important support for Iran to continue its actions with force,' the official added.
The official outlined Iran's extensive list of potential targets within 'occupied territories,' which include covert residences of Israeli government leaders, energy facilities, factories supplying military aircraft, and critical command-and-control infrastructure.
Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said that the country's missiles had targeted fuel production facilities for Israeli fighter jets, a claim not acknowledged by Israel.
World leaders urgently called for de-escalation in order to prevent an all-out war. Russian President Vladimir Putin had condemned Israel's strikes on Iran and expressed concern over further escalation. In a phone call with US President Donald Trump on Saturday, Putin reiterated Moscow's willingness to facilitate negotiations.
Oman-mediated nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington were scheduled for Sunday; however, they were canceled following Israel's strikes. Trump did not rule out the possibility of continuing the negotiations, saying, 'They'd like to make a deal. They're talking.'
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Trump, consequently, has not only sided unambiguously with the aggressor Israel, but has also signaled that he is fine with his Israeli friends battering Iran as long as they like, including to the point of extermination. That is, Washington's absurdly incredible official story is first, Israel massively defied America's declared policy; second, the US does not really mind; and third, quite to the contrary, Washington just loves being made a fool of in front of the world, as long as it's done by Israel. It loves it so much, in fact, that the American response is to immediately side with Israel without limits, writing out a blank check for its 'defiant' friends to do whatever they want, because as Trump has assured those who have just 'apparently defied' him, not only can they hammer away at Iran to their heart's content, but in addition, the US will also always defend them against Iran in case the latter should try to strike back. Even Washington's lies are revealing. In this case the lie of not being involved casts a sharp light on just how uninhibited the US elite is by now in publicly subordinating everything, including of course the interests of ordinary Americans, to Israel and its American lobby. The truth is, of course, that the US is deeply involved in the war of aggression against Iran. After Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria, the undead neocons are finally getting to the last – for now – victim on their old murder board. The lie is that the US pretends not to be involved. And the ultimate, unintentional reveal of the whole affair is that Washington's elites think a lie implying that they are absolutely obedient to Israel, even when directly 'defied' by it, is a good-enough story. For absolute, craven submission to Israel is now considered perfectly normal. And that, actually, is a fundamental truth about America as it now really is.
