Iran

From his secret bunker last June, as Israeli missiles rained down on Tehran, Iran’s supreme leader issued an instruction he had never given before: to prepare for his succession. With the threat of decapitation strikes hanging over him, Ayatollah Khamenei drew up a secret list of three clerics who could take his place and told his assembly of experts to choose between them if he was killed.

It was the first of several key lessons the Islamic regime would take from that war as the prospect of another now looms. Khamenei also picked four layers of succession for all the military and civilian leaders he personally appoints: others beyond that circle were ordered to name their own four rungs of replacements.

Iran is close to buying a supersonic missile from China that could destroy American aircraft carriers.

Officials from the Islamic Republic are in advanced negotiations with Beijing to purchase the CM-302 cruise weapon, which is designed to damage warships, according to Reuters.

The news agency cited six sources as saying that negotiations, which began two years ago, sped up after the 12-day war between Israel and Iran last June.

Donald Trump is considering plans to assassinate the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei among the military options for a strike on Iran.

The US president has reportedly been presented with a decapitation campaign against the leadership of the Islamic Republic, with Mojtaba Khamenei on the list alongside his father.

The supreme leader’s 55-year-old son had been thought his most likely successor, benefiting from close ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp, a powerful branch of the armed forces that has been designated a terrorist entity by the United States.

There is a lot of media reporting right now on potential timelines for US strikes on Iran, including suggestions of action this weekend. The markets are already getting jittery: some commentators think that a weekend start is likely so as to let people calm down a bit before trading resumes on Monday.

The position of the USS Gerald R Ford, the most powerful aircraft carrier in the world, is of interest here. Her arrival in the Eastern Med is seen by many as an essential precursor to action. This is not correct, but it is an indicator. Having the Ford in position to strike Iran, and potentially to defend Israel, would significantly add to the firepower provided by the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Gulf of Oman and the many other US assets in the region.

President Donald Trump says the world will find out “over the next, probably, 10 days” whether the US will reach a deal with Iran or take military action.

At the inaugural meeting of his Board of Peace in Washington DC, Trump said of negotiations with the Islamic Republic about its nuclear programme: “We have to make a meaningful deal otherwise bad things happen.”

In recent days, the US has surged military forces to the Middle East, while progress was also reported at talks between American and Iranian negotiators in Switzerland.

The United States is rapidly expanding its military footprint across the Middle East, positioning major naval and air assets across the region as the Trump administration mounts pressure on Iran.

While the second round of nuclear negotiations wrapped this week and were described as “constructive,” the United States has continued to amass over a dozen warships and hundreds of planes throughout the region.

There is a 90 per cent chance of war against Islamic Republic in coming weeks, says Washington source

US fighter jets tracked as heading towards the Middle East could be laying the groundwork for a major bombing campaign.

The uptick in warplanes travelling to the Gulf is likely to be used to clear the way for heavy bombers to strike at the heart of Iran’s regime, experts have said.

Large numbers of American combat aircraft and support planes such as air-to-air refuellers have been seen moving eastwards this week.