Basij Commander Reaffirms Iranian Goal To Annihilate Israel

The statement came after the US military conducted a precision missile strike Wednesday night eliminating a top commander of a prominent Iran-backed militia responsible for the deaths of three US troops in January.

The targeted killing is the second major US attack since President Joe Biden authorized a retaliatory military campaign against Iran and its proxies. The first major attack was launched on February 3, hitting more than 85 Iran-related targets in Iraq and Syria.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed the Wednesday attack, posting on X that it was “in response to the attacks on US service members” and that the target was “a Kataib Hezbollah commander responsible for directly planning and participating in attacks on US forces in the region.”

Sources in Iraq –and militia officials– named the commander as Wissam Mohammed “Abu Bakr” al-Saadi, in charge of Kataib Hezbollah’s operations in Syria.

Abu Baqir al-Saadi was once a bodyguard to Kataib’s founder Abu Mahdi al-Muhandes, according to the Washington Institute for Near East Studies. Muhandes was killed alongside IRGC top man Qasem Soleimani in another US drone strike early January 2020.

CENTCOM said there were “no indications of collateral damage or civilian casualties”. Still, followers of the militia at the scene were angry with the US and with the Iraqi government, which they believe is failing to take a stance against the Americans who “violate Iraqi sovereignty.”

The attack may further escalate the situation in the Middle East, where Iran and its proxies have been targeting US forces regularly since Israel began its onslaught in Gaza in response to Hamas’ rampage of Israeli border communities.

Following the large-scale US airstrike on Iraq and Syria, Kataib Hezbollah had announced that it was suspending attacks on American troops to avoid “embarrassing the Iraqi government”. That announcement may now be voided, as Kataib and other Iran-affiliated armed groups consider avenging Abu Bakr al-Saadi's death.

“These crimes will not go unpunished,” the militia Al-Nujaba movement threatened in a statement. .Several other groups from several countries in the region –all affiliated with Iran– also issued statements, threatening retaliation.

Officials from the Biden administration repeatedly said after last week’s retaliatory attack on Iraq and Syria that it was only the beginning and there were more to come. It’s unclear how far the administration would go while maintaining its view to avoid war with Iran at all costs.

Biden’s critics are adamant he should abandon that policy if he wants success in dealing with Iran.

“They say we don’t want to escalate anything with Iran,” Senator Bill Hagerty of foreign relations committee told Bloomberg. “You take escalation off the table, you take a big tool of deterrence off the table. We need to come back to a strong diplomatic, economic, and military position to deal with Iran. It needs to be consistent.

“We’ve been extraordinarily inconsistent in dealing with Iran and its proxies,” Hagerty continued. “We have failed to enforce the sanctions on Iran that would’ve stopped the flow of funds to that nation…"

Iran’s oil revenues have more than doubled since Biden abandoned Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’. This increase has coincided with Iran’s expansion of its missile program, as well as its growing, blatant support for armed groups like Hamas, Kataib Hezbollah, and the Houthis, which have proven most active and effective with their disruption of maritime trade at the Red Sea.

All these groups cite the crisis in Gaza as their main cause. It’s unclear how they would react to the Israeli prime minister rejecting the terms of a potential hostage-release agreement with Hamas that could have led to a permanent ceasefire. The war would continue until “absolute victory,” Netanyahu said. That would likely mean a direct confrontation between Iran and the United State.

On Monday evening, security forces raided the offices of Farda-ye Eghtesad, an economic website, and detained 30 journalists, including senior editors, holding them incommunicado inside the building overnight. They also confiscated all office computers and electronic devices including mobile phones and interrogated the staff. Additionally, the arrest of another economic journalist, Mehdi Afsharnik, was announced, apparently connected to the raid on Farda-ye Eghtesad.

The website, launched in August 2023, is owned by a subsidiary of Kian Capital, a private investment firm. The newspaper’s offices along with the company’s headquarters and its subsidiaries, were also raided, all located in the same building.

Journalists and observers in Tehran do not say what kind of links exist between the website and Kian capital on the one hand and the issue of circumventing sanctions on the other. It is assumed that the website at least was somehow involved in revealing the Iranian government’s illicit activities.

Kian Capital’s ties with businessman turned political activist Majid Zamani, who founded Kian Group, are noteworthy. Zamani, who now resides in Britain after leaving Iran during last year’s anti-government protests, founded a political group named Government for Iran, advocating for political dialogue and a transition from the Islamic Republic.The group has explained its principles and goals in a document entitled “Roadmap to a Dream” on the English page of its website.

The judiciary’s official news agency, Mizan, released a statement on Tuesday, asserting that the raid and journalist's arrest were not linked to journalistic activities but were under investigation by a security agency. While some detainees have been released, senior editor Ali Mirzakhani and journalist Behzad Bahmannejad have reportedly been taken to another location by security forces.

An economic expert in Tehran, speaking anonymously to Iran International, suggested that the security operations may be in response to a Financial Times report on an Iranian company evading sanctions and the Iranian Navy's seizure of an oil tanker linked to the US in January. The affiliation of Farda-ye Eghtesad with Kian Capital and its founder, Majid Zamani, is considered significant in this context, but no one offers a concrete explanation.

Zamani, an active member of the reformist Mir-Hossein Mousavi’s campaign, was arrested in 2009 for several months during the Green Movement.

Speaking to the reformist Ensaf News Wednesday, the London-based Zamani said that security forces had raided Mabna, a subsidiary of Kian Capital last week, and held all the staff for 24 hours and interrogated them.

According to Zamani, the investigation was related to a video file about sanctions that had been uploaded from one of IP addresses of Mabna on Instagram. He claimed that no evidence had been found during the raid.

Zamani also spoke about more raids on his former companies this week. “They entered the central building of the Kian Group, which is at another location and started inspecting all the [subsidiary] companies for the same reason,” he said and added that the employees had been questioned about having contacts with him.

“[The offices of] Farda-ye Eghtesad are in the same building where other Kian Group companies are. Consequently, [the newspaper office and staff] were searched and interrogated, too,” he told Ensaf News.

Zamani also said he has no knowledge of the video about sanctions that security forces have been questioning the company staff and journalists about.

Reza Ezzat Zamani, Deputy of the Islamic Propagation Organization, said Wednesday that "In the Islamic Republic, not only have we not prohibited many joyful matters, but we have also gone to extremes."

"We believe that many things that appear to be joyful, bring sadness and transient happiness, according to Westerners themselves" he added.

His comment comes as studies suggest a rise in depression in Iran, particularly among women and young people.

The Islamic government bans mingling of opposite sexes, drinking alcohol, enforces hijab on women and strictly monitors music, often banning concerts and other cultural events.

In September, a report from the reformist newspaper Ham-Mihan revealed that one out of every five prescriptions issued in Tehran is for antidepressants or sleep-inducing medications. Also, a comprehensive study conducted by the Tehran Studies and Planning Center in January disclosed that a significant 80.8% of Tehran residents reported a low quality of life.

The widespread prevalence of depression and the unfavorable living conditions outlined in the studies have extensive implications, contributing to an upsurge in crime, social issues, and broad public discontent. The situation has prompted a growing number of individuals to consider emigration as a potential remedy to their current circumstances.

In the wake of the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising, numerous experts, including university professors, mental health specialists, and sociologists, expressed concerns about the societal conditions in Iran. Four mental health associations also voiced their apprehensions regarding the mental well-being of citizens in a joint statement.

In a letter dated February 5 addressed to Attorney General Merrick Garland, a copy of which was obtained by Iran International, US Representative Jim Banks (R-IN), Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Mike Waltz (R-Fl) call for an investigation into the potential violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) by the ICG, a think tank that advises the US government.

An investigation by Iran International, published last week, showed that the Iranian government in 2016 signed a previously undisclosed agreement with the International Crisis Group, and used the organization to lobby the Obama administration on its behalf about nuclear issues.

According to a cache of documents obtained by Iran International, the Crisis Group signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s in-house think tank, the Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS), but never made it public. The MoU outlined a framework for “scientific and academic interactions,” aimed to “promote and intensify the friendship and the mutual understanding,” the documents showed.

“FARA requires all individuals in the United States acting as agents of foreign principals to regularly disclose their status and activities as a foreign agent to the Department of Justice,” the lawmakers noted in their letter to Mr. Garland. They emphasized that the law was meant to prevent organizations operating in the United States “from secretly serving the interests of a foreign power and to provide transparency to reduce foreign agents’ ability to credibly promote propaganda from hostile governments.”

The Crisis Group is headquartered in Belgium, but also maintains “a substantial presence in the United States,” according to the lawmakers. “While the Crisis Group ostensibly conducts research on conflict resolution, recent reporting has revealed that the group has a disturbing and longstanding official relationship with the government of Iran,” they said.

More than 50 Western research institutions - including the Crisis Group - had boycotted the Iranian foreign ministry’s IPIS for hosting a anti-Holocaust conference in 2006, but the Crisis Group was one of two organizations that reversed course and signed a formal agreement with the IPIS a decade later.

A half-dozen leaders in Western think tanks expressed surprise to Iran International and Semafor, our partner in the investigation, that the Crisis Group entered into a formal research agreement with the IPIS and said the partnerships with foreign governments, especially Iran, could raise concerns about the think tank's objectivity and potential lobbying for foreign interests.

A sanctions attorney based in Washington, who requested anonymity, said that from a legal liability perspective, there was a question of whether the Crisis Group complied with the registration requirements outlined in FARA or the Lobbying Disclosure Act if they were actively advocating for Iranian interests within the United States.

Responding to questions on this occasion, the think tank told Iran International, “Crisis Group only acts to resolve conflict, not for or on any country's behalf. Iran’s threats to our staff and accusations that we work for the US and Israeli governments have been ongoing for more than a decade and underscore our independence. We are fully compliant with U.S. law.”

However, the members of Congress concluded their letter by demanding a Justice Department investigation. “There is a clear pattern of behavior indicating that the Crisis Group is in fact not an independent organization, but a chief mouthpiece of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the United States. Given this evidence, we urge you to launch an investigation of the Crisis Group without delay for potential FARA violations to protect our nation from malign foreign influence.”

"(US) forces conducted a unilateral strike in Iraq in response to the attacks on US service members, killing a Kataib Hezbollah commander responsible for directly planning and participating in attacks on US forces in the region," a statement from the military said. It did not name the commander.

Two security sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the commander was Abu Baqir al-Saadi, killed in a drone strike on a vehicle in eastern Baghdad.

One of the sources said three people were killed and that the vehicle targeted was used by Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a state security agency composed of dozens of armed groups, many of them backed by Iran.

Three US troops were killed in January in a drone attack near the Jordan-Syria border that the Pentagon said bore the "footprints" of Kataib Hezbollah. The group then announced it was suspending military operations against US troops in the region.

Iran-backed militias have targeted US forces in Iraq and Syria more than 160 times since mid-October.

The US struck Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria last weekend in what it said was just the beginning of its response to the killing of the three US soldiers.

In January, a US drone strike killed a senior militia commander in central Baghdad, an attack Washington said came in response to drone and rocket attacks on its forces.

On Wednesday, Iraqi special forces were on high alert in Baghdad and further units were deployed inside the Green Zone housing international diplomatic missions including the US embassy, a security source said.