March 26, 2021
Iranian communications intercepted by the US show some officials in the Islamic Republic plotting an attack on Fort McNair, a US Army base in the middle of Washington, DC, The Associated Press reported March 21.
The AP said the communications were intercepted by the National Security Agency (NSA) in January. The NSA is in charge of “signals intercepts,” referring to radio messages, telephone calls, email transmissions and the like.
The intercepted messages showed Pasdaran discussing mounting “USS Cole-style attacks” against the base, referring to the October 2000 suicide attack in which a small boat pulled up alongside the Navy destroyer Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden and exploded, killing 17 sailors.
The intelligence also revealed threats to kill Gen. Joseph M. Martin, the Army’s deputy chief of staff, and plans to infiltrate and surveil the base, according to two senior intelligence officials who spoke to the AP. Martin’s official residence is on the base, which is the home to the National War College and is the site of the 1865 hangings of the four people convicted in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
Any such attack would be a huge change in Iranian policy, which has long avoided terrorist actions inside the United States, for fear they would set off a retaliatory action, much as the 9-11 attacks of 2001 prompted the US invasion of Afghanistan against Al-Qaeda.
Many of the news reports on the story asserted that Iran was “threatening” to attack Washington. But the AP report never said the attack plan had been adopted, only that two men in a conversation had discussed it. It seems likely it was just an idea that some people were proposing with little chance of adoption.
The base lies on the Potomac River shoreline, so the reference to a USS Cole-style attack suggests the plotters were thinking of bringing a boat loaded with explosives up beside the base.
The intercepted chatter was among members of the Qods Force that centered on potential military options to avenge the US killing of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleymani, the two intelligence officials said.
To be clear, the intelligence intercept does not indicate that there is any approval by the Supreme Leader for any such attack. In fact, the regime seems to have decided to avoid any large-scale retaliation for the Soleymani killing, assuming that would just serve as a pretext for the US to launch a war against Iran.
The rhetoric that the Iran Times has been monitoring shows the talk of a major retaliation has ended and more and more regime officials, including military officers, are now talking about expelling the US military from the Middle East as the only response of suitable size. Even before Soleymani’s assassination, Khamenehi had declared that the expulsion of the United States from the region was the regime’s long-term goal.
