Rod Reuven Dovid Bryant and Jerry Gordon bring back Kenneth R. Timmerman, veteran Iran watcher, New York Times bestselling author and investigative journalist, to discuss the dramatic developments in the Middle East. Timmerman noted how pivotal the intelligence was that a high-ranking Iran Revolutionary Guards intelligence officer brought with him. Apparently, the defector brought a veritable trove of information on Iran’s nuclear program, support for proxies in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen threatening US allies and assets in the Gulf Region. That threatened Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, as well as Israel and Jordan.
Timmerman believes the defector information was credible enough for the Administration to dispatch the powerful USS Abraham Lincoln carrier task force steaming from the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal to enter the Arabian Sea confronting IRGC’s navy and shore -based missile threats. The Pentagon also deployed B52H bombers and F15Bs to the Middle East in a massive demonstration of force. Timmerman warns that unlike the 1987-1988 Tanker War during the Reagan era that the US Navy Seals and special ops won with Iran, The US Fifth Fleet and the USS Abraham Lincoln battle group now faces a serious shore-based missile threat developed by Iran and China. That might have the effect of keeping US naval assets offshore of the maritime choke point of the Straits of Hormuz that controls the flow of Gulf Region oil production to the world energy markets. Timmerman noted that Iran has used this strategy in Yemen via the Houthi Shi’ite rebels to launch missiles to damage Saudi oil pipelines to the Red Sea.
Iran may have used proxies to commit sabotage of Saudi tankers and a Norwegian vessel at the UAE port of Fujairah. Timmerman believes that the US sanctions have punished the Iranian Islamic State to the point that the mullahs have begun to believe their Shiite ideology. Asked why Secretary of State Pompeo took a side trip to Brussels before journeying onto Sochi to meet Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and President Putin, Timmerman thinks it was to brief them on the vast intelligence brought by the high-ranking defector. He believes that the EU and possibly NATO officials that Pompeo briefed have understood the importance of this development.
Timmerman thinks that in the next several days, Iran may undertake further escalating attacks. Asked about the impact of this intelligence coup on Israel, he thinks that Netanyahu understands its importance and has recently demonstrated Israel’s ability to confront Iranian missile threats on three frontiers with Gaza, Lebanon and Syria.
Beyond the Matrix 15MAY2019 – PODCAST