As I wrote recently, the massive explosion at a critical Iranian port may be the straw that breaks the Ayatollah’s back. The explosion appeared to originate in a facility controlled by a wealthy Ayatollah-owned ‘charity’, possibly via a shipment of a volatile chemical used as a precursor to solid rocket fuel. With an economy already staggering from sanctions and in the aftermath of years of anti-hijab protests, closing off Iran’s lifeline to its few remaining oil markets (i.e., China) could be fatal to the Shia religious regime.
It pays to remember, though, that totalitarian regimes are often at their most dangerous when they’re making their last gasps for air. What would go down nicely, for their purposes, right now would be being able to brag about killing a bunch of Jews. Right where it would fire up tens of thousands of jihadis.
A group of Iranian men are suspected of planning an atrocity at the [Israeli] embassy in Kensington, west London.
Counter-terrorism officers, supported by the military, swooped in to make arrests at the weekend fearing that an attack was imminent.
Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, said that it was one of the biggest counter-terrorism operations in recent years.
Five Iranian nationals were arrested on suspicion of preparation of an act of terrorism in a series of raids. Police have refused to publicise details of the alleged plot but it is understood the embassy was the main target.
Video showed armed counter-terrorism police and military personnel raiding a property in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, before dragging out one of the suspects. The other men were arrested in Swindon, west London, Stockport and Manchester.
Rochdale? Now, where have we heard that name before?
Between 2008 and 2010, a child abuse ring that came to be known as part of the “grooming gang” phenomenon operated in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Girls aged between 13 and 15 were trafficked, prostituted, raped and assaulted by the gang.
The above being the Guardian, there’s one pertinent bit of information conspicuously missing. Not once in its entire article does the Grauniad mention ‘Muslim’ or ‘Pakistani’, or even the British MSM’s favourite euphemism, ‘Asian’. Rochdale has a population of 46 per cent Muslims.
But I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that a Muslim terror cell was operating there. Or in Manchester (13 per cent Muslim), West Londong (14.5 per cent) or Stockport (six per cent).
Could happen anywhere.
They’re not alone, either.
Last month a 33-year-old man was charged with preparation of terrorist acts after allegedly attempting to break into the Israeli embassy in west London. That case is understood to be unrelated to these arrests.
Security officials have repeatedly warned of the increased threat from Iran and acknowledged that international tensions could result in violence on the streets of the UK.
In October Sir Ken McCallum, the head of MI5, said that Iran could focus on UK targets if Tehran felt that Britain had become a party to the conflict in the Middle East by supporting Israel.
Since January 2022, police and MI5 have disrupted more than 20 Tehran-linked assassination and kidnap plots in Britain against dissidents and media organisations.
And there’s almost certainly more to come.
Speaking in the Commons on Tuesday, Home Office minister Dan Jarvis said hundreds of officers were carrying out forensic investigations at different sites across the country.
He said the arrests were “some of the largest counter-state threats and counter-terrorism actions that we have seen in recent times”.
The Iranian regime is desperate to ‘score some runs’ after a year of stunning successes by Israel, including the 2024 Pager Plot, which eliminated dozens of top-echelon commanders in the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror group. Other operations have included precision strikes in Iran itself, including the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh at a resort run by Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard.
A cornered beast is always the most dangerous.
