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Iran and Syria are Getting Blown Up. And Sometimes Shot.

by DR. MICHAEL LEDEEN March 21, 2012
It’s all the rage.  Literally.  Two explosions at Iranian military/nuclear weapons sites.  Four explosions in Syria, including three suicide bombers in Damascus on Saturday, two of which were aimed at Syrian security forces buildings, all in the past few days.  Today’s explosion was in Aleppo, and also “near a government security building.”
The Iranian blasts are seemingly more dramatic, and probably part of the ongoing campaign being waged against the installations of the Revolutionary Guards Corps, especially, but not solely, those connected to the nuclear weapons project.  One of the blasts took place at Zarin Dasht, once the site of a Russian mill, now an important component of the military/industrial complex of the country, where missile fuel and warheads for missiles are manufactured.  As is often the case, much of the complex is underground, which is where the explosion took place.  My sources tell me that seven people are missing and several are wounded and are being treated.  So far as I know there are no reports in the Iranian media.
The more dramatic event was the explosion at Natanz, generally credited as the major uranium enrichment center in the country.  The most important facilities are eight meters underground, and are among those potential military targets said to be very hard to destroy.  The explosion, according to my Iranian sources, took place in the next-to-bottom level of the underground structure, leading to a shutdown of the entire complex.
No public reports of this one, either, although Natanz generates electricity and a shutdown would be hard to cover up.   Nor has anyone taken “credit.”  Maybe the two explosions were just accidents, although it seems unlikely. Whatever the explanation, the Iranian and Syrian regimes certainly have their security issues, don’t they?  Slaughtering their people doesn’t seem to have induced an end to resistance.
Is it a single battlefield?  The regimes in Damascus and Tehran certainly think so.  According to a Jordanian news site, an operations room has been opened in Damascus and…it is continuously manned by officers from Syria and Iran, as well as by Hizbullah terrorists, all of whom coordinate their military operations in the event of external military intervention in Syria.  A similar operations room has been opened in Tehran, said the report, and is manned by Iranian as well as by Hizbullah terrorists…
Meanwhile, while we’re on the subject of unnoticed news, did you know that the US Navy recently killed some Iranian sailors in the Gulf?  Four were killed and one is still missing, according to Kuwaiti press reports.  Reza Kahlili has some details.
Funny how we hear all about it when the Navy rescues Iranian hostages from the Gulf pirates, but when an Iranian boat enters a “forbidden zone” close to an American military base, and we blast it, it doesn’t seem to make the evening news.
Par for the course.  No wonder it’s impossible to have a serious debate about Iran.  We don’t acknowledge simple facts:  Iran is at war with us, Iran and Syria are tied at the belly button and are engaged in a joint massacre of the Syrian people, there’s a very lively resistance movement (or movements) inside Iran (as inside Syria), and our national “strategy” consists of asking these two terror masters to make nice so that we can retreat further.
“Lead from behind” is a long way of saying “retreat,” don’t you think?  Or is there still some geopolitical genius who believes we can get a meaningful and credible deal with these mass murderers?
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributor Dr. Michael Ledeen is the Freedom Scholar at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He is also a contributing editor at PJ Media and at National Review Online.

Dr. Michael Ledeen is the Freedom Scholar at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He is also a contributing editor at National Review Online. Previously, he served as a consultant to the National Security Council, the State Department, and the Defense Department.  He has also served as a special adviser to the Secretary of State. He holds a Ph.D. in modern European history and philosophy from the University of Wisconsin, and has taught at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Rome.

He is author of more than 20 books, the most recent include: Accomplice ot Evil: Iran and the War Against the West; The War Against the Terror Masters;  The Iranian Time Bomb; Machiavelli on Modern Leadership: Why Machiavelli's Iron Rules Are As Timely and Important Today As Five Centuries Ago, Tocqueville on American Character: Why Tocqueville's Brilliant Exploration of the American Spirit Is As Vital and Important Today As It Was Nearly Two Hundred Years Ago; and, Freedom Betrayed: How America Led a Global Democratic Revolution, Won the Cold War, and Walked Away. 

Dr. Ledeen regularly appears on Fox News, and on a variety of radio talk shows.  He has been on PBS's NewsHour and CNN's Larry King Live, among others, and regularly contributes to the Wall Street Journal and to National Review Online. He has a blog on Pajamasmedia.com.


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