Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Humiliated by Attack, Vow to Retaliate

Wow, was the US military humiliated by the brazen attack on the Pentagon in 2001 which killed 125, including 55 military? Somehow that’s not a term which comes immediately to mind. No, but see how “humiliated” has so easily slipped into the headline here, referring to the military forces of our enemy, when *they* are terrorized. The author seems to believe that if “terrorists” attacked the IRGC parade, that somehow rules out state actors form being involved. Extremely odd. When multiple Iranian nuclear scientists were murdered between 2010 and 2012, their killings were appropriately described as acts of terror. State actors were obviously involved, as is clear in the attack on the parade. The author diligently repeats Haley‘s denial that the US seeks to topple the Iranian government. Even Bolton is on record claiming regime change is not the US goal. Through strangulation of the Iranian economy as well as covert subversion and provocations carried out by local proxies, the US will say that it wants the Iranian people simply to rise up and reject the regime themselves. The administration’s lies are tiresome and believed by no one. There is zero chance that the Iranian people will perform as Washington wishes. But the chaos and suffering and anger caused by the US are the cauldron which the war party (including Saudi and above all Israel) is madly stirring in their insane longing for an excuse to launch another war. Sep 24 5:43pm ET

With respect - not due respect - to Giuliani's statements about sanctions, I heard on BBC World Radio at 03:00 h Central European Time that EU is working hard right now to devise ways to get around the US sanctions due in November. Iran was to become a major market for the EU - and even Boeing USA - until the US regime took its first steps toward making everything worse. Meanwhile, as I also learned on BBC World radio, the worst crisis in the world is taking place in Yemen thanks to US ally Saudi Arabia. The regime change that is most needed is, of course, not in Iran but right back home in the USA. Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com Citizen US SE

@ TR Devlin. The Revolutionary Guards are a branch of Iran's Armed Forces set up after the 1979 Revolution and specifically tasked with protecting the new Islamic Republican System. They have roughly 125,000 military personnel including ground, aerospace, and naval forces. The IRGC also controls the volunteer paramilitary Basij militia which has about 90,000 personal, and who must be between ages 18-45. They are subordinate to and receive their orders from the IRAC. The Basij serves as an auxiliary force engaged in activities like internal security, policing morals, and suppression of dissident gatherings. While some members of the Basij join out of genuine religious convictions, many reportedly join only to take advantage of the benefits of membership such as admission to university, or to get promotions in government jobs.

Giuliani is an embarrassment to our country.

These attacks on Iranian sovereignty will only strengthen the political legitimacy of this religious, reactionary, regressive government. Put more simply, we are backing them into a wall and all they can do is fight back. The Iranians justify their means by saying, "We protect you from our enemies who taunt us and attack us on our soil, who do not even respect our right of self determination and want to put a colonial regime in charge of Iran." Serious thinkers would continue a process of detente and an exchange of ideas in the cultural and educational spheres (Obama's policy). Unfortunately there are few serious thinkers in Washington these days, and a man who actually idolizes Hitler (why does no one talk about Ivana's claim that he kept Mein Kampf by his bed??!) lives in the White House. We can expect more of the same old Cold War thinking, the trouncing of human rights and a waste of our collective time as a species. The Iranians are not the only ones regressing.

@ J. Von Hettlingen. I wish I would have read your comment before writing mine! It was very informative and would have changed some of my suppositions. Thank you.

To my mind there is nothing to admire about the corrupt, super wealthy, hypocritical clerics who are the new Oligarchs of Iran. They've sold out the Iranian people in their quest for personal wealth and power, and are resented by the population for spending billions on foreign wars, and supplying military weapons to all their proxy groups. My guess is that few Iranians are unhappy about this attack on the feared Republican Guards who hold up this nefarious Kleptocracy (and who no doubt receive huge compensations for doing so). I knew the Kurds were a persecuted group in Iran but I was unaware of the Arab minority. It does seem most likely that the attack came from this little known Ahvaz National Resistance group, maybe supported by other disgruntled folks in Iran - of which there are many. It's been the MO of Iranian leaders to blame outside powers for internal dissent or 'terror ' for so long that it's gotten old. It's used to distract attention from the increasing discontent and opposition to the Clerical leadership inside the country. Sure the Republican Guard will vow revenge and retaliation. But you can be sure it won't be against the 'guys who really did it'. It will be against some poor Iraqis or Syrians who just happen to be in the way.

The Revolutionary Guards are far from being"elite" composed as they are by volunteers supporting the Islamic Republic. It is true that some elements of the Guards are "elite" like the Qods force.

So, do I believe the woman at the UN or Donald Trump‘s personal lawyer, I guess I go along with Rudy Giuliani. We are trying to overthrow the Iranian government.

So whats gonna happen first? trump impeachment or regime change in Iran ??? I don't think they were humiliated over this by the way! bad choice of title..

Iran/Persia may lose its battles, but it always wins its wars. And it has something like 3 millennia of history to show for it. By comparison Iran's current enemies, Israel and Saudi Arabia, together have a combined modern history of less than 150 years. That is still less than the number of years, 183, that Israel was a province of Persia during the Achaemenid empire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yehud_Medinata

VS "Following the advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL [aka ISIS/Daesh]) into northern Iraq in the summer of 2014, Iran began to provide military aid to counter the militant advance. Iran launched airstrikes against ISIL positions and provided combat troops and technical advisers to the Iraqi government, Shia militias, and Iraqi [mostly Sunni] Kurdistan." (wikipedia, Iranian_intervention_in_Iraq_(2014–present)) "since the start of the [Syrian] civil war, Iran has expressed its support for the Syrian government and has provided it with financial, technical, and military support, including training and some combat troops." (wikipedia, Syrian_Civil_War#Iran) etc We can thank Iran for fighting the Salafist/takfiri terrorists (from al Qaeda to ISIS) bankrolled and armed by US allies Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE and other NATO Turkey.

Because it was a considered a successful attack, the current American leaders could not have been involved.

It is shame to call the victoms of terroerist attcke are humilatted. Think more. Noboday called the victom and injured people from Paris or London attacks were humilated. #NO to double standard

So what now? The US wants regime change. The regime in Iran is facing an economic crisis, about 200% inflation is the best guess, with rampant corruption and a burn rate of resources from supporting Hamas, Hezzbollah, Houthi, that is unsustainable. There is a lot of unrest in the population who really don't care about 'ultimate triumph" - they would much rather be able to buy food . The regular forces and the IRGC have been in a fight for resources since 1980. The Bazzarri who toppled the Shah struck to protest inflation. Most of this most recent economic collapse traces back to the LIFTING of sanctions. $40-50 billion of capital fled Iran. Many of the affluent - the educated professional classes who ran the country - fled. The promised boom never happened. Rouhani lost support and thus power. Supreme Leader Khameni is dying and the power struggle over his replacement has already begun behind the scenes. Then Trump acts, proving the hard-liners were right - the Americans can not be trusted. The Islamic Republic is daily wounding itself; it can not survive for long in it's present form. But it's been here before. The revolution was equally fragile when it was saved by Iraq's invasion in 1980. Maybe we should let regime change, however it looks, come from inside Iran.

Iran has previously alleged that Saudi Arabia supports a separatist movement among Iran’s Arab minority, like the anti-government Arab group - Ahvaz National Resistance. The Saudis have constantly blamed Iran for fomenting unrest in their Eastern Province, which is home to the country’s Shia population. Indeed, it’s once again about oil. The Arab minority lives in the Khuzestan Province in southwestern Iran, with Ahvaz as its capital. The Ahvaz Field is one of the richest oil fields in the world with an estimated proven reserves of around 65.5 billion barrels. It was discovered in 1953 and developed by Anglo-Persian Oil Company. It was nationalised in 1953 - one of the reasons that triggered the 1953 CIA-backed coup. The proven oil reserves in Saudi Arabia are the 2nd largest in the world, estimated to be 268 billion barrels, and they are predominantly found in the Eastern Province. Shia residents there have in the past protested against what they describe as endemic marginalisation and discrimination. Both Iran and Saudi Arabia have been struggling for regional political and religious dominance for decades, and are engaged in a number of proxy wars in the region, backing rival factions in Yemen and Syria. The US under Trump has escalated sectarian tensions in the region, by openly siding with the Sunni Arabs in bullying Qatar, that has friendly ties with Iran. Most of all Trump supports a regime change in Iran, cheered by Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Perhaps Iran needs to look to itself and its policies for the motives for the attack. And Guiliani definitely needs to shut his mouth since he has no idea what he's talking about.

.....and we're supposed to be sad?

With China eyeing influence in Venezuela, who could put anything past those responsible for this attack. If China does dip a toe in our hemisphere, their South China Sea exploits become even fairer game.

I am puzzled by the editor's headline word-choice. "Humiliated?" I don't think it is reasonable to highlight the shame or humiliation around an event like this; any terrorist attack is primarily met with sadness, grief, etc, by those who have any empathy. Iranians are human beings who have just gone through loss of life. That is the news here.

As much as I try I cannot understand the expectations of the perpetrators of this attack or other terror attacks. A temporary humiliation? Revenge? How does it move the needle?

my heart goes for the Iranian nation. the one and only civilised nation in the gulf. one of the worlds oldest civilization is suffering today because of primates ruled saudi and uae. Long live Iran

Mr. Giuliani, playing Trump's TV lawyer, has previously seemed malevolent but maybe slightly amusing. With this provocation he has most definitely ceased to be amusing. Hey Rudi, put a sock in it.

consider all the parties accused, and consider the accuser. it is entirely plausible that any one of them, or any combination of them, or none of them, were the murderous perpetrators. what a world, what a world, as the Wicked Witch said.

"Others, apparently heavily armed, faced the assailants, then threw themselves to the ground without firing back." Troops in a parade are not normally issued live ammo. No country does that.

The real offensive against Iran is the sanctions which have the twin effect of starving Iran and reinforcing Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia, however, as putative leader of an Arab coalition against the Russian/Iranian influence on the Arabian peninsula (northern and southern tiers), is in well over its head.

Shi'ites and Sunnis have been killing each other in the Persian Gulf region for something like 1300 years. Nothing new here. The Shi'ite majority in Iran should try to address the grievances of the Sunni minority, both Arabs on the Gulf coast and Kurds in the northwest. Not likely, however, as Iranian politicians get more mileage railing against Israel and the USA. Better to hold "Death to America" rallies and kill Jews (as in Argentina in 1994).

Iran represents the rejection of American Global hegemony. As such it is considered an affront by those who feel it is our destiny to guide the affairs of all countries of the globe. That attitude strikes me as insanely hubristic. The people of Iran also feel they have a destiny of greatness to fulfill. It would be wise to tread carefully there. Oh wait, we're being led by a shallow, uninformed megalomaniac. Oh well......

So the Arabs attack Iran and Iran...promises to hit Israel. Only in the Middle East does that even pass remotely for logic.

Any foreign entities that advocate for "Death to America" need to be looked at closely. Sometimes a problem needs to be stamped out before it gets too big.

The US sponsored fake populist protests back in the 50s, creating the blowback that lead to the current regime. With this in mind the Iranian government’s assertion the protests were state-sponsored “collusion” to create regime change is not unreasonable.

Israel and Saudis have found their king and savior in Trump. He may even start another war for them. US supporting terrorists will have consequences, as always Democrats will have to clean up the mess.

What is Giuliani playing at? That’s insanely stupid. With nationalism on the rise everywhere and an incredibly bellicose, unstable administration here we are barreling towards another major war. And for no reason at all.

“A military attack against a military target is not a terrorist act” Mr. Abdulla isn’t entirely wrong. The attack could easily be construed as an open declaration of war.

Someone needs to muzzle Guiliani before he starts a real war.