War Iran-United States Military Crisis of 2020 - US Baghdad embassy under siege, rocket fire in US Baghdad green zone, Ukrainian Airlines flight 752 crash, and more!

January 10th:
Exclusive: Informants in Iraq, Syria helped U.S. kill Iran's Soleimani - sources (archive)(post)
Iraqi Shia cleric whose militia killed American troops says crisis is over following Iran strike and Trump speech (archive)(post)
Iraqi PM tells US to decide mechanism for troop withdrawal (archive)(post)
Mike Pence says Congress might 'compromise sources and methods' if fully briefed on the Soleimani strike (archive)(post)
Unidentified planes hit Iraqi militiamen in Syria, killing 8 (archive)(post)
Iraq: The Master Of Mayhem Meets A Missile (archive)(post)
Eliminating Qasem Soleimani was Donald Trump’s Middle East farewell letter (archive)(post)
Iran uses BULLDOZERS to clear debris from plane crash site while accusing US of ‘big lie’ that they shot it down (archive)(post)
Swiss Back Channel Helped Defuse U.S.-Iran Crisis (post)

January 11th:
UKRAINIAN AIRCRAFT WAS BROUGHT DOWN IN IRAN DUE TO 'HUMAN ERROR' (archive)(post)
Iran minister says 'human error' caused by 'US adventurism' led to deadly crash of Ukrainian jetliner (archive)(post)
Ukrainian aircraft was brought down in Iran due to 'human error' (archive)(post)
Trump, at Ohio rally, says Democrats would have leaked Soleimani attack plans (archive)(post)
The Atlantic's David Frum blames Trump for downing of plane in Iran, deaths of 176 (archive)(post)
Associated Press changes ‘shockingly bad’ headline about Soleimani, Ukrainian plane crash after backlash (archive)(post)
GOP Rep. Doug Collins apologizes for saying Democrats are 'in love with terrorists' (archive)(post)
Iran demands West 'show findings' as new video reveals aircraft was struck before fiery crash (archive)(post)
Warren town hall interrupted by angry protester accusing her of ‘siding with terrorists’ (archive)(post)
Trump administration announces new sanctions on Iran (archive)(post)
Prepare For the Worst From Iran Cyber Attacks, As DHS Issues Warning: Experts (archive)(post)
Trump tells Fox News' Laura Ingraham 'four embassies' were targeted in imminent threat from Iran (archive)(post)
Trump tweets support for Iranian protesters as they demand Khamenei quit (archive)(post)
Trump warns Iran against ‘another massacre’ as protests flare over downed jet (archive)(post)

January 12th:
Trump tweet in Farsi 'the most liked Persian tweet' in history of Twitter (archive)(post)
Iraq warned to keep US troops or risk financial blow-WSJ (archive)(post)
Iran arrests UK ambassador in what Britain calls ‘flagrant violation of international law’ (archive)(post)

January 13th:
Trump authorized Soleimani's killing 7 months ago, with conditions (archive)(post)

edit: This is a WIP. All links are posted in the order they appear in the thread, not in chronological order of their publication.


---Original OP before the merge---
Iraqi supporters of Iran-backed militia attack US Embassy
https://apnews.com/75228a8a607a44863b57021ac33264dc (http://archive.vn/ljm9Y)

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA12 minutes ago

BAGHDAD (AP) — Dozens of angry Iraqi Shiite militia supporters broke into the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad on Tuesday after smashing a main door and setting fire to a reception area, prompting tear gas and sounds of gunfire.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw flames rising from inside the compound and at least three U.S. soldiers on the roof of the main building inside embassy. It was not clear what caused the fire at the reception area near the parking lot of the compound. A man on a loudspeaker urged the mob not to enter the compound, saying: “The message was delivered.”

The embassy attack followed deadly U.S. airstrikes on Sunday that killed 25 fighters of the Iran-backed militia in Iraq, the Kataeb Hezbollah. The U.S. military said it was in retaliation for last week’s killing of an American contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base that it had blamed on the militia.

Dozens of protesters marched inside the compound after smashing the gate used by cars to enter the embassy. The protesters, many in militia uniform, stopped in a corridor after about 5 meters (16 feet), and were only about 200 meters away from the main building. Half a dozen U.S. soldiers were seen on the roof of the main building, their guns were pointed at the protesters.

Smoke from the tear gas rose in the area, and at least three of the protesters appeared to have difficulties breathing. It wasn’t immediately known whether the embassy staff had remained inside the main building.

The protesters hanged a poster on the wall: “America is an aggressor.”

Shouting “Down, Down USA,” the crowd tried to push inside the embassy grounds, hurling water and stones over its walls. They raised yellow militia flags and taunted the embassy’s security staff who remained behind the glass windows in the gates’ reception area. They sprayed graffiti on the wall and windows in red in support of the Kataeb Hezbollah militia: “Closed in the name of the resistance.”

Hundreds of angry protesters, some in militia uniforms, set up tents outside the embassy. As tempers rose, the mob set fire to three trailers used by security guards along the embassy wall.

No one was immediately reported hurt in the rampage and security staff had withdrawn to inside the embassy earlier, soon after protesters gathered outside.

The U.S. attack — the largest targeting an Iraqi state-sanctioned militia in recent years — and the subsequent calls by the militia for retaliation, represent a new escalation in the proxy war between the U.S. and Iran playing out in the Middle East.

Tuesday’s attempted embassy storming took place after mourners and supporters held funerals for the militia fighters killed in a Baghdad neighborhood, after which they marched on to the heavily fortified Green Zone and kept walking till they reached the sprawling U.S. Embassy there.

AP journalists then saw the crowd as they tried to scale the walls of the embassy, in what appeared to be an attempt to storm it, shouting “Down, down USA!” and “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday’s strikes send the message that the U.S. will not tolerate actions by Iran that jeopardize American lives.

The Iranian-backed Iraqi militia had vowed Monday to retaliate for the U.S. military strikes. The attack and vows for revenge raised concerns of new attacks that could threaten American interests in the region.

The U.S. attack also outraged both the militias and the Iraqi government, which said it will reconsider its relationship with the U.S.-led coalition — the first time it has said it will do so since an agreement was struck to keep some U.S. troops in the country. It called the attack a “flagrant violation” of its sovereignty.

In a partly televised meeting Monday, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi told Cabinet members that he had tried to stop the U.S. operation “but there was insistence” from American officials.

The U.S. military said “precision defensive strikes” were conducted against five sites of Kataeb Hezbollah, or Hezbollah Brigades in Iraq and Syria. The group, which is a separate force from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, operates under the umbrella of the state-sanctioned militias known collectively as the Popular Mobilization Forces. Many of them are supported by Iran.

.

 

[Dom Cruise]

What's with these assholes and attacking Embassies?

Not a great way to ring in the new year, it's unfortunate.

Why are we still fucking around with these faggots? Give us your oil and quit being exceptional before we turn you and everyone in your miserable fucking country, and ever fucking stick holding your buildings together into glass.

Fuck this shit is getting old. We have superiority and the world would be better off without their culture. Time to get back to colonizing.

That's the irony of the situation is if we operated like the ancient Romans did, with our technology, we could absolutely bring the middle east into submission to where every last Arab would piss themselves at the thought of making the US mad.

But because this is the 21st century we have to "play nice" and can't use our full force, like I said it's highly ironic, we have technology that can rain down previously unimaginable levels of destruction but a culture that won't allow it.

War should either be done right, ie get it the fuck over with and show no mercy or it shouldn't be done at all.

 

[Arctic Fox]

Trump threatens Iran after attack on embassy compound: ‘They will pay a very BIG PRICE!’

President Trump warned Iran that the country “will pay a very BIG PRICE!” after the break-in at the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad on Tuesday.

“Iran will be held fully responsible for lives lost, or damage incurred, at any of our facilities,” Trump tweeted Tuesday afternoon. “They will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat. Happy New Year!”


Trump has blamed Iran for the embassy breach in which dozens of Iraqi Shiite militiamen and their supporters broke into the U.S. Embassy, smashing a main door and setting fire to a reception area in one of the worst attacks on the embassy in recent years.

There were no reports of casualties. The State Department said all American personnel were safe and that there were no plans to evacuate the embassy. The government planned to send more troops to protect the compound.

A U.S. defense official told Fox News that 100 Marines had been sent to the embassy to bolster security. A U.S. Apache helicopter gunship also flew over the embassy and dropped flares in a “show of force,” attempting to disperse the crowd. Defense Secretary Mark Esper later confirmed additional forces were being sent, as the military released images of those forces deploying from Kuwait.

The breach followed U.S. airstrikes on Sunday that killed 25 fighters of the Iran-backed militia in Iraq, the Kataeb Hezbollah. The U.S. military said the strikes were in retaliation for last week's killing of an American contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base that the U.S. blamed on the militia.

“Iran killed an American contractor, wounding many. We strongly responded, and always will. Now Iran is orchestrating an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. They will be held fully responsible. In addition, we expect Iraq to use its forces to protect the Embassy, and so notified!" Trump tweeted earlier on Tuesday from his estate in Palm Beach, Fla.



Trump, who is spending the holiday week at his Florida home, is in “close touch” and receiving regular updates from his national security team, said White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham. She echoed the sentiment contained in Trump’s tweet earlier Tuesday.

“As the president said, Iran is orchestrating this attack, and they will be held fully responsible,” Grisham said in an emailed statement. “It will be the president’s choice how and when we respond to their escalation.”

The developments also represent a major downturn in Iraq-U.S. relations that could further undermine U.S. influence in the region and American troops in Iraq and weaken Washington's hand in its pressure campaign against Iran.

Iraq has long struggled to balance its ties with the U.S. and Iran, both allies of the Iraqi government. But the government's angry reaction to the U.S. airstrikes and its apparent decision not to prevent the protesters from reaching the embassy signaled a sharp deterioration of U.S.-Iraq relations.

Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

(Article)(Archive)

Not a very good way to start a new decade. Lot of pointless war in the last twenty years. The best thing to do would be leaving the middleeast but it's very unlikely.

And idiots will still wonder why these people chant 'America is an oppressor'.

 

[Coldgrip]

We likely won't go to war. Trump is the type to level sanctions or go at things in a round-a-bout way.

Though I'd still like it if we could just nuke them.

 

[Sped Xing]

I'm honestly optimistic. Trump likes to talk shit. It makes everyone else shit their pants, since the four presidents before him would never talk like that, but would invade, bomb, and destroy.

I hope foreigners keep not figuring out that Trump's not anxious to start a war.

 

[Still Anonymous For This]

Trump turned back a retaliatory strike at the last possible minute when Iran shot our drone down earlier this year. I saw his reasoning: it was a piece of equipment and not worth a use of force response.

Trump is definitely not pro-war, but I'm feeling like the Iranians fucked up on this one. I suspect F-35s are going to be dropping cool shit soon. He's given the Iranians a long rope and they're hanging themselves with it.

 

[Oskar Dirlewanger]

Spoiler: average iranian

Spoiler: average american

Yeah bro go ahead start a war lol... it will be just like in the movies bro

 

[SmileyTimeDayCare]

We don't need to go to war with them. Just blockade their country. Anyone tries to enter or leave gets vaporized. The message will get through pretty quickly.

 

[Buttigieg2020]

I’m sure some industrial center in Iran will have an unfortunate accident in the coming weeks and then everyone will move on. Just like the last dozen times this has happened.

 

[RapeMan]

No wall for America, a wall of subjugated countries for jizzrael. Gotta love (((democracy)))

 

[ShortBusDriver]

Spoiler: average iranian

View attachment 1076640

Spoiler: average american

View attachment 1076656

Yeah bro go ahead start a war lol... it will be just like in the movies bro

Iran's only operational fighters are F4 Phantoms, 1950s relics they have to source parts for from museums.

They don't have a blue water Navy, much less a carrier to attack the US.

So what are they going to do, sponsor terrorists? They already do that, they're the #1 state sponsor of terrorism.

The left's notion that they're some military power house is pants on the head exceptional.

 

[TerminalTryHard]

I'm no warhawk but fuck Iran, they spent the last eight years getting away with literal murder cause Obama wouldn't man up it's time they has they got reminded of their fucking place.

 

[Sped Xing]

I used to want "boots on the ground" when I was one of those boots.

Now I'm middle class, and have to pay for those boots. Peace and love, man.

 

[Arctic Fox]

Iran's only operational fighters are F4 Phantoms, 1950s relics they have to source parts for from museums.

They don't have a blue water Navy, much less a carrier to attack the US.

So what are they going to do, sponsor terrorists? They already do that, they're the #1 state sponsor of terrorism.

The left's notion that they're some military power house is pants on the head exceptional.

It's extremely exceptional. No nation on Earth is any kind of an actual military threat to the U.S. Much less a bunch of tribesmen in a shithole desert.

I'm no warhawk but fuck Iran, they spent the last eight years getting away with literal murder cause Obama wouldn't man up it's time they has they got reminded of their fucking place.

Get a gun and do it yourself then.

 

[⠠⠠⠅⠑⠋⠋⠁⠇⠎ ⠠⠠⠊⠎ ⠠⠠⠁ ⠠⠠⠋⠁⠛]

What's with these assholes and attacking Embassies?

What's with the puppet state of the 'United States' and interfering in other people's countries?

What fucking horseshit is this. It's no secret that those Shiite militias are deeply connected to Iran and march to their tune. The US specifically targeted one of them because it wasn't playing nice. It was actually mortaring a base belonging to some other ethnic group and killed a US citizen.

Uh... do you not know what a Hezbollah flag looks like? Yellow background, hand holding an AK, chickenscratch lettering. There are three of them in the picture above. This is Iran backing religious paramilitary groups and rioters to destabilize a neighboring country. Make no mistake.

Look, I know you know absolutely nothing about the Orient beyond 'muh towelheads' but feel that you must comment, but

1. the Popular Mobilization Forces are not even exclusively Shi'ite
2. Sh'ia are the vast majority in Iraq and the democratic will of the people will be carried out
3. all patriotic Iraqis, including Sunnis, not including Kurds, support the elimination of the United States occupation, as indicated by Sunni members of the PMF and other patriotic groups who turned out in support of the protest against the Zionist strike on the Kata'ib Hezbollah base

 

[Oskar Dirlewanger]

Iran's only operational fighters are F4 Phantoms, 1950s relics they have to source parts for from museums.

They don't have a blue water Navy, much less a carrier to attack the US.

So what are they going to do, sponsor terrorists? They already do that, they're the #1 state sponsor of terrorism.

The left's notion that they're some military power house is pants on the head exceptional.

We don't need to go to war with them. Just blockade their country. Anyone tries to enter or leave gets vaporized. The message will get through pretty quickly.

Iran is a crucial strategic energy partner to countries like Russia, India, China and Turkey. I'm sure fucking with a country that is more or less directly connected to the basic everyday needs of like 1/4th of the planet's population, for literally no other reason but to swing your small, white, circumcised penis in front of the whole world, will not backfire at you at all.

 

[DragoonSierra]

I'm no warhawk but fuck Iran, they spent the last eight years getting away with literal murder cause Obama wouldn't man up it's time they has they got reminded of their fucking place.

What did they get away with exactly and how have they not been getting away with it for the last 4 years?

 

[Liber Pater]

So what are they going to do, sponsor terrorists? They already do that, they're the #1 state sponsor of terrorism.

According to the US State Department, anyway. The State Department only lists 4 countries AFAIK as state sponsors of terrorism, notably leaving out US allies like Saudi Arabia or Israel. There's probably a case to be made that the US government itself is the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

HERE WE GO AGAIN

 

[TerminalTryHard]

What did they get away with exactly and how have they not been getting away with it for the last 4 years?

How about the attempted bombing in DC in 2011. The Qod (the Iranian equivalent of the CIA) provided training, funding, plane tickets and a list of targets to terrorists to attack DC but it was all forgotten to protect Obama's nuclear deal and "muh legacy".

Iran 'Directed' Washington, D.C., Terror Plot, U.S. Says

FBI and DEA agents have disrupted a plot to commit a "significant terrorist act in the United States" tied to Iran, federal officials told ABC News today. The officials said the plot included the assassination of the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States, Adel Al-Jubeir, and subsequent...

abcnews.go.com

Mattis: Obama ignored Iranian bomb plot of DC restaurant, 'act of war' due to nuke deal talks

In his newly-released book “Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead,” Jim Mattis took shots at President Barack Obama for failing to act in response to a 2011 Iranian bomb blot in the U.S. due to secret nuclear deal negotiations that were underway at the time. After two Iranian nationals were arrested...

americanmilitarynews.com

 

[ColtWalker1847]

We don't need to go to war with them. Just blockade their country. Anyone tries to enter or leave gets vaporized. The message will get through pretty quickly.

More ways than that. Iran is involved in like a dozen proxy wars right now. The US could make a lot of trouble for them by supporting the opposition. Shit, just giving the greenlight to Israel to wipe out Hezzie positions in south Lebanon and Syria would set them back a fair bit. Ditto that Yemen shitshow with the Saudis and Gulf States. A couple Hadi-aligned fishermen might just find some TOW missiles to lob at Iranian oil terminals too. Who knows.