A Saudi soccer team refused to play a match in Iran on Monday because of the presence of busts of a slain Iranian general placed on the sidelines, Saudi state media reported.

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Video: Gallant reveals Iran building airport in Lebanon for terrorism / Credit: Go live

The Saudi Al Ittihad club was scheduled to play Iran's Sepahan in the Asian Champions League, one of several matches made possible by a recent diplomatic rapprochement between the longtime Mideast rivals that has recently come under strain.

The Saudi team did not take to the field because of busts of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who commanded Iran's elite Quds Force before he was killed in a U.S. drone strike in neighboring Iraq in January 2020, and other political banners, Saudi Arabia's Al Ekhbariya TV reported.

Soleimani was seen as playing a key role in arming, training, and leading armed groups across the region, including fighters from the Houthi rebel group in Yemen. Saudi Arabia has been at war with the Iran-aligned rebels in Yemen since 2015.

Three busts of Soleimani had been placed along the sidelines for the teams to walk past on their way out of the tunnel. After around 30 minutes of delay, the Saudi Arabian champion team, which had selected stars such as N'Golo Kante and Fabinho, signed from Chelsea and Liverpool respectively in the summer, left the Naghsh-e-Jahan Stadium where an estimated 60,000 fans were waiting.

Videos circulating on social media appeared to show angry Iranian fans chanting that politics should be kept out of soccer. Iranian media reported that the busts of Soleimani had been placed there three years ago and that Al Ittihad had practiced in the stadium on Sunday.

Al Ekhbariya later ran footage of the Saudi team at the Isfahan airport, saying they were headed home.
The league said the Group C match was canceled "due to unanticipated and unforeseen circumstances," without elaborating.

"The AFC reiterates its commitment towards ensuring the safety and security of the players, match officials, spectators, and all stakeholders involved. This matter will now be referred to the relevant committees," it said in a statement. There was no official comment from Saudi Arabia or Iran.

Iran's ruling clerics and their supporters hail Soleimani as a hero because of his leading role in military operations against the United States, the Islamic State group, and other perceived enemies. Iran launched a barrage of missiles at U.S. bases in Iraq after he was killed, and has vowed to take further actions to avenge his death.
As well as the insurgents in Yemen, Soleimani also aided Shiite militias in Iraq, the Lebanese Hezbollah, and fighters in Syria and the Palestinian territories.

Western nations considered Soleimani a terrorist who sowed instability across the region. The soccer tournament, which features 40 teams from around Asia, is the first since 2015 to see Saudi Arabian and Iranian teams play home and away games on each other's soil. After diplomatic relations between Tehran and Riyadh were broken in 2016, games usually took place in neutral venues.

Iranian fans were thrilled at the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo and other soccer stars who have been drawn to Saudi clubs over the past year by lavish contracts. The two countries, which have long backed opposite sides in the region's conflicts, restored diplomatic relations earlier this year in an agreement brokered by China. That raised hopes that the devastating war in Yemen, which has been winding down in recent years, might finally come to an end.

But tensions rose again last week after an attack blamed on the Houthi rebels killed four soldiers who were patrolling Saudi Arabia's southern border with Yemen. The soldiers were from Bahrain, a close Saudi ally, and Bahrain blamed the Houthis, who have not publicly acknowledged the attack.

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The US decision to remove Iran's Revolutionary Guards from its foreign terrorist organization blacklist would not only be a distortion of truth and adoption of a double standard distinguishing between terrorism and terrorism but worse yet: an American show of surrender to Iran and a reward to the main perpetrator of terrorism of its time, the one that sows chaos in the Middle East and the entire world, from Syria and Lebanon to Argentina.

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And yes, it will also be a blow and put sticks in the wheels of Israel and America's other allies in the region, who deal with destructive terrorist plots daily, courtesy of the Revolutionary Guards.

At the time these lines are written, Washington has not yet made a decision in this regard. The very fact that this discussion is taking place at Iran's demand, raised by the regime moments before the suspension of nuclear talks, is already a form of insult to the United States.

Were it not for steps previously taken by the Biden administration, one could have suspected that the discussion on the matter was a tactical move by Washington designed to provide them with an opportunity to respond negatively and assume an uncompromising stance, to dull down the arrows of criticism pointed at them for surrendering to Tehran's demands.

Unfortunately, however, it is difficult to think of such a possibility seriously, when one recalls the words of Russia's main negotiator in Vienna about Iran's achievements during the talks. Iran got much more than it expected – Mikhail Ulyanov said.

Moreover, removing the Revolutionary Guards from the blacklist does not seem far-fetched when remembering that one of the first decisions the Biden administration made was removing the Houthis from the same listing only two days after they attacked Saudi Arabia and refrains from adding them back onto the list ever since, despite the fact that rebels conducted more attacks, this time against the United Arab Emirates as well.

In 2019, when then-US President Donald Trump decided to designate the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group, the White House explained that this move recognized a reality in which Iran not only funds terrorism but actively participates in it and uses it to advance its political goals, through this organization.

Then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was familiar with the organization's misdeeds also due to his work as director of the CIA, said it best.
"For 40 years, the Islamic Republic's Revolutionary Guard Corps has actively engaged in terrorism and created, supported, and directed other terrorist groups. The IRGC masquerades as a legitimate military organization, but none of us should be fooled … From the moment it was founded, the IRGC's mandate was to defend and export the regime's revolution by whatever means possible … The Trump administration is simply recognizing a basic reality. The IRGC will take its rightful place on the same list as terror groups its supports," like Hezbollah, and others.

The Revolutionary Guards was founded in 1979 by order of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as a counterweight to the Iranian military which he did not trust because of the American education its senior commanders had received and due to their closeness to the shah. It is organized and operates as a parallel military.

It has ground forces, aerospace forces, a navy, and a special force called Quds Force, an intelligence arm and a Basij mechanism that is used to maintain internal security and brutally oppress opponents of the regime. The Guards also operates Iran's ballistic missile arsenal.

The Revolutionary Guards serves not only as the main means of ensuring the survival of the ayatollah regime but as the main means to achieving its ambitious vision: to establish Iranian hegemony in the region and to spread the idea of the Islamic Revolution throughout the world.

The Quds Force is the main Iranian group that manages the military forces and the Shiite militia outside the country. Its work extends to Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Gulf States, the Far East, Africa, South America and reaches as far as the Gaza Strip.

The US-led assassination of Quds Force chief Qassem Soleimani gave the world the opportunity to understand the scope of the organization's activities and high regard in Iran.

It has a special status in the Iranian regime that comes from the combination of its military, economic and political power and a special closeness to the leader. Had Iran developed a nuclear weapon, it would most likely be kept and operated by the Quds Force.

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Adding an organization to the terrorist listing is not just a symbolic move, it is an essential means to denounce its legitimacy, limit contacts with it and impose heavy economic sanctions on it.

As such, removing the Revolutionary Guards from the list will pave the way for its economic growth, which it will use for military and political growth. And all of this will happen, together with the gain that Iran will get with the release of billions of dollars, following the signing of the nuclear agreement.

And what is Iran required to do in return? – Commit to de-escalation! A commitment that even with regard to its content and characteristics the Iranians are still bargaining over. There is no need to delve deeper into the validity of such a promise.

To understand how much it is worth, taking a brief look at the symbol of the Revolutionary Guards and the Koran verse chosen as its motto will suffice: "Prepare against them whatever you are able of power."

How is this seen within the context of the US? – It is very interesting to read this within the context of the tweet of Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, who "cynically awaits" such an American decision. Individuals like him are familiar with the winds in domestic politics in Washington and understand that such a decision could cause an explosion on both sides of the political map.

In any event, anyone who believes that Iranians will achieve their nuclear aspirations can also believe that "relief and rescue will arise for the Jews from elsewhere" (Book of Esther, 4:14).

Brig. Gen. (Res.) Professor Jacob Nagel is a former national security adviser to the prime minister and a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Meir Ben-Shabbat, a visiting senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies, served as Israel's national security adviser and head of the National Security Council between 2017 and 2021.

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Iran will face severe consequences if it attacks Americans, the White House said on Sunday, a day after the ayatollah regime sanctioned dozens of US citizens over the 2020 drone attack that killed General Qassem Soleimani, then-Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force commander.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Iran's sanctions on Saturday came as Tehran's proxy militias continue to attack American troops in the Middle East.

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"We will work with our allies and partners to deter and respond to any attacks carried out by Iran," Sullivan said in a statement. "Should Iran attack any of our nationals, including any of the 52 people named yesterday, it will face severe consequences."

Iran on Saturday imposed sanctions on dozens more Americans, many of them from the US military, over the 2020 killing of Soleimani. Iran's Foreign Ministry said 51 Americans had been targeted for what it called "terrorism" and human rights violations. The step lets Iranian authorities seize any assets they hold in Iran, but the apparent absence of such assets means it will likely be symbolic.

It was not clear why Sullivan's statement referred to 52 people when Tehran said it had sanctioned 51. Iran's sanctions included US General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It also included former White House national security adviser Robert O'Brien.

Soleimani's role at the helm of the Qods Force meant that he led the overseas arm of the elite Revolutionary Guard, essentially spreading terrorism and other forms of destabilizing activity across the region.  He was killed in Iraq in a drone strike on Jan. 3, 2020, ordered by then-President Donald Trump.

A year ago, Iran imposed sanctions on Trump and several senior US officials.

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Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei addressed the nation on Saturday, marking the second anniversary of the assasination of Quds Force commander  Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

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"Our enemies thought that having assassinated Soleimani their job was done. But today, thanks to the blood of the jihads, the resistance is thriving and is more full of hope than ever. The United States has withdrawn from Afghanistan and reduced its troops in Iraq thanks to the vigilance of our brethren in Iraq. In Yemen, the resistance has progressed greatly and in Syria, our enemies are broken and without hope for the future.

"Commander Soleimani was a symbol that left its mark on the reality of our region. His killers, like President Trump and his associates, will be rejected and forgotten and thrown into the garbage heap of history, having paid for their crimes," Khamenei said in a speech that was broadcast on state television.

In Iraq, thousands of supporters of the pro-Iranian Hashed al-Shaabi alliance of armed groups marched to mark the second anniversary of the killing.

Chanting "Death to America", they filled a Baghdad square to honor Soleimani and his Iraqi lieutenant Abu Hamdi al-Muhandis – Hashed's deputy – who was killed along with him.

"US terrorism has to end" read one sign at the rally by backers of Hashed, a former paramilitary alliance that has been integrated into Iraq's state security apparatus.

In 2018, then-President Donald Trump ordered the strike that killed Soleimani near Baghdad's airport along with his lieutenant.

Since then, dozens of rockets and roadside bombs have targeted Western security, military, and diplomatic sites across Iraq.

Iraqi and Western officials have blamed hardline pro-Iran factions for the attacks, which have never been claimed by any group.

In February last year, the US carried out an airstrike against Kataeb Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Iraqi paramilitary force stationed along the Iraqi-Syrian border, following rocket attacks on its Baghdad embassy and a US military contracting firm north of the capital.

Hashed has repeatedly called for the withdrawal of US troops who are deployed in Iraq as part of a multinational coalition fighting jihadists of the Islamic State group.

i24NEWS contributed to this report. 

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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani accused on Monday Israel of being behind the US assassination of Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani in January 2020.

"Trump was a mercenary of the Zionist Regime and all his actions were provoked by the Zionists," adding, "Of course, the previous US presidents were friends with the Zionists, but were not mercenaries."

"The martyrdom of General Soleimani was directed by the Zionists, even though Trump was the commander and killer," Rouhani said according to an official statement by the Iranian government.

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Speaking at a cabinet session Rouhani also spoke about the resumption of nuclear talks in Vienna, in which Iran wants to secure the lifting of crippling sanctions. He said that the leaking of a secret recording in which Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif criticized Soleimani for trying to undermine the 2015 accord, was timed to embarrass Iran.

"Stealing a recording and publishing it, and that why it has been published in this critical juncture is something that needs to be closely looked into," he said.

"This recording was published by those who are against Iran, the people of Iran and the interests of our country exactly at the time when we are making the best achievements in Vienna in order to sow discord in our country," he said.

Zarif commented on the leaked recording on Wednesday in a post and expressed remorse for his comments. "I am very sorry that a theoretical and confidential discussion on the need to have diplomacy and acts on the groundwork in lockstep has become an internal source of conflict," he said. "I didn't censor myself because that would have been a betrayal of our people."

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Senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar said in a recent interview that soon after his first meeting with Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force commander wound up giving him $22 million to take back with him to the Gaza Strip.

Speaking with Iran's Al-Alam TV on Dec. 27, al-Zahar – Hamas' foreign minister at the time the incident took place – said that Soleimani would have given him more, but that $22 million was all the nine-person Hamas delegation could carry. "Each suitcase weighed 40 kilograms [88 pounds]," he said.

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After he was appointed foreign minister in 2006, said al-Zahar, "I traveled to a number of countries, one of which was Iran. I met with the [Iranian] foreign minister and then some Iranian officials."

He also met with Iran's president at the time, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. That meeting, said al-Zahar, was "a positive one."

"We made a number of requests, and [Ahmadinejad] referred me to Qassem Soleimani. In that meeting, we said that our main problems were the wages of our government employees – people who needed social aid and the aid that had to be given to the people – when a siege had been imposed on us after our success in the elections," he said.

"The decision was taken immediately. I was supposed to fly out the following day," he continued. "I discovered $22 million waiting for me in suitcases at the airport. We had agreed on a larger sum, but there were only nine of us, and this was all we could carry."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org

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The United States flew strategic bombers over the Persian Gulf on Wednesday for the second time this month, a show of force meant to deter Iran from attacking American or allied targets in the Middle East.

One senior US military officer said the flight by two Air Force B-52 bombers was in response to signals that Iran may be planning attacks against US allied targets in neighboring Iraq or elsewhere in the region in the coming days, even as President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take office.

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The B-52 bomber mission, flown round trip from an Air Force base in North Dakota, reflects growing concern in Washington, in the final weeks of US President Donald Trump's administration, that Iran will order further military retaliation for the US killing last Jan. 3 of top Iranian military commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Iran's initial response, five days after the deadly US drone strike, was a ballistic missile attack on a military base in Iraq that caused brain concussion injuries to about 100 US troops.

Adding to the tension was a rocket attack last week on the US Embassy compound in Baghdad by Iranian-supported Shiite militia groups. No one was killed, but Trump tweeted afterward that Iran was on notice.

"Some friendly health advice to Iran: If one American is killed, I will hold Iran responsible. Think it over," Trump wrote on Dec. 23.

Because of the potential for escalation that could lead to a wider war, the US has sought to deter Iran from additional attacks. Strategic calculations on both sides are further complicated by the political transition in Washington to a Biden administration that may seek new paths to dealing with Iran. Biden has said, for example, that he hopes to return the US to a 2015 agreement with world powers in which Iran agreed to limit its nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.

In announcing Wednesday's bomber flight, the head of US Central Command said it was a defensive move.

"The United States continues to deploy combat-ready capabilities into the US Central Command area of responsibility to deter any potential adversary, and make clear that we are ready and able to respond to any aggression directed at Americans or our interests," said Gen. Frank McKenzie, the commander of Central Command.

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"We do not seek conflict, but no one should underestimate our ability to defend our forces or to act decisively in response to any attack," McKenzie said.

He did not mention Iran by name.

In advance of the announcement, the senior US military officer who spoke on condition of anonymity said that US intelligence has detected recent signs of "fairly substantive threats" from Iran, and that included planning for possible rocket attacks against US interests in Iraq in connection with the one-year anniversary of the Soleimani killing.

The US is in the process of reducing its troop presence in Iraq from 3,000 to about 2,500. Trump ordered that the reduction be achieved by Jan. 15; officials say it is likely to be reached as early as next week.

The United States also has picked up signs that Iran may be considering or planning "more complex" and broader attacks against American targets or interests in the Middle East, the senior US military officer said, adding that it represented the most concerning signs since the days immediately following the Soleimani killing. The officer cited indications that advanced weaponry has been flowing from Iran into Iraq recently and that Shiite militia leaders in Iraq may have met with officers of Iran's Quds force, previously commanded by Soleimani.

The US officer said Iran might have its eye on economic targets, noting the September 2019 missile and drone attack on Saudi oil processing facilities. Iran denied involvement but was blamed by the United States for that attack.

In recent weeks the US military has taken a range of steps designed to deter Iran, while publicly emphasizing that it is not planning, and has not been instructed, to take unprovoked action against Iran.

Last week, a US Navy guided-missile submarine made an unusual transit of the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. Earlier in December, a pair of B-52 bombers from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana flew what the military calls a "presence" mission over the Gulf – a demonstration of US force and a signal of US commitment to the region, but not an attack mission. That flight was repeated this week, with two B-52s flying nonstop from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota and heading home Wednesday after cruising over the western side of the Gulf.

Tensions with Iran escalated with the killing in November of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, an Iranian scientist named by the West as the leader of the Islamic Republic's disbanded military nuclear program. Iran has blamed Israel for the killing, but US officials are concerned that any Iranian retaliation could hit US interests.

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The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah said Sunday his group now has twice as many precision-guided missiles as it had a year ago, saying Israel's efforts to prevent it from acquiring them has failed.

Hassan Nasrallah, in an end-of-year interview with the Beirut-based Arabic Al-Mayadeen TV, said his group has the capability to strike anywhere in Israel.

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Nasrallah said that when Israel threatened through a US official to target a Hezbollah facility in the eastern Bekaa region, his group warned it would retaliate to any such attack.

Israel has in recent months expressed concern that Hezbollah is trying to establish production facilities to make precision-guided missiles.

During the four-hour interview, Nasrallah said there are many matters related to his group that Israel has no knowledge of because those are kept in a "very tight circle."

Nasrallah also said that the last few weeks of the administration of US President Donald Trump are critical and must be treated with care. He called Trump "angry" and "crazy."

Nasrallah repeated vows that Iran and its allies will avenge the US killing of the commander of the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Qassem Soleimani, in a drone attack a year ago in Iraq.

"That revenge is coming no matter how long it takes," he told Al-Mayadeen TV, sitting with a picture of Soleimani to his left.

Nasrallah also vowed to avenge Israel's killing of a Hezbollah fighter in Syria earlier this year, asserting his organization could "strike anywhere inside Israel."

Addressing the incoming US administration of President Joe Biden, Nasrallah said Iran would not negotiate with the US on behalf of its allies or discuss conflicts in the region. He said Tehran would talk with Washington only about the Iranian nuclear deal.

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Soleimani, who was the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force that was responsible for exporting the Iranian ideology and aggression worldwide, was assassinated after pro-Iranian forces under his apparent direction tried to storm the US Embassy in Iraq and also targeted other US installations, killing an American.

The new footage shows Soleimani's plane landing in the airport, after which he emerges. It then shows the US attack and its aftermath.

Just recently, Iran had another official assassinated – the architect of its clandestine nuclear program Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. Tehran has blamed Israel for this action.

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According to several US officials cited in the report, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has vetoed any attack that could trigger a confrontation with the Trump administration. The officials said Iran is convinced that the recent explosion in a Natanz centrifuge facility crucial for its nuclear program was designed to trigger a response that would give the Trump administration a pretext to wage a full-fledged attack on Tehran.

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According to the report, Iranian officials devised plans to attack naval vessels in the Persian Gulf or oil installations in the region in order to hurt the global oil market and thus hurt Trump electorally, but the recent coronavirus crisis made them rethink the impact such steps would have in light of the slump in energy prices.

However, according to the report, the supreme leader has given a green light for continued cyberattacks against the US.

The chief of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps threatened Saturday to go after everyone who had a role in the assassination of its Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani in January.

IRGC commander Gen. Hossein Salami was quoted as saying, "Mr. Trump! Our revenge for martyrdom of our great general is obvious, serious and real."

US President Donald Trump warned that Washington would harshly respond to any Iranian attempts to take revenge for the death of Soleimani, tweeting that "if they hit us in any way, any form, written instructions already done we're going to hit them 1000 times harder."

The president's warning came in response to a report that Iran was plotting to assassinate the US ambassador to South Africa in retaliation for Soleimani's killing at Baghdad's airport at the beginning of the year.

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