Iran threat: Tehran vows to target US military base and kill top general – conflict fears | World | News


Intelligence officials revealed that the rogue state is threatening to target Fort McNair near Washington DC and the Army’s vice chief of staff.

They said communications intercepted by the National Security Agency in January showed that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard discussed mounting “USS Cole-style attacks” against the base.

This is referring to the October 2000 suicide attack in which a small boat pulled up alongside the Navy destroyer in the Yemeni port of Aden and exploded, killing 17 sailors.

It comes as Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said today that Iran did not trust US promises on lifting sanctions and that Tehran would only go back to its commitments under a 2015 nuclear deal after Washington fully ends the sanctions.

“We trusted America at the time of (former U.S. President Barack) Obama and fulfilled our commitments. But they didn’t.

“The Americans said on paper that sanctions will be lifted, but they didn’t lift sanctions in practice,” Khamenei said in a speech on state TV.

“Their promises have no credibility for us.”

The intelligence also revealed threats to kill General Joseph M. Martin and infiltrate the base, according to the officials.

The base, one of the oldest in America, is Martin’s official residence.

The threats are one reason the Army has been pushing for more security around Fort McNair, which sits alongside Washington’s bustling newly developed Waterfront District.

City leaders have been fighting the Army’s plan to add a buffer zone of about 250 feet to 500 feet (75 meters to 150 meters) from the shore of the Washington Channel, which would limit access to as much as half the width of the busy waterway running parallel to the Potomac River.

The Pentagon, National Security Council and NSA either did not reply or declined to comment when contacted by The Associated Press.

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