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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Mike Ledeen: Wow, They're Still Blowing Up Iran
2011-12-21
Mr. Ledeen has interesting sources.
Two more explosions today. One at the big refinery in Isfahan, the other at the very important Revolutionary Guards base in Kerman, which is the headquarters for the RG's operations in the East (think Afghanistan, etc.).
The Isfahan explosion is this one related at YNet, and is the same one we noted yesterday.
I don't have casualty figures yet, but the Kerman blast was a biggie.
Can't find anything on the web for the Kerman blast.
I am told that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei hasn't made a public appearance in more than two weeks. I don't have any way to check this, but he certainly hasn't been hogging the spotlight of late. That role is being played by the Iranian currency, the rial, which is in the same death spiral as the regime. It's dropped from 1300-and-change to the dollar to 1500-plus in a couple of weeks. Maybe Khamenei doesn't want to talk about the resounding success of his regime?
Posted by:Steve White

#5  I might add that the US government was so terrified of George Metesky, that they leaned on Hollywood to never, ever make a movie about him, with the reasonable fear that there are lots of others out there who could emulate him.

Oddly enough, the US Supreme Court eventually ordered him released. Being captured, "just a week or two from dying of Tuberculosis", he responded remarkably well to treatment, and having completed 2/3rds of his sentence, had he been in prison instead of committed, he would have been paroled.

He lived another 20 years, though the state never did give him his deserved workers compensation, a penny-ante cheat that ended up costing them a fortune.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2011-12-21 10:34  

#4  Just one individual with Explosive Ordnance Demolitions experience can be a nightmare.

New York City was about driven nuts for 16 years by "The Mad Bomber", George Metesky, who had just minimal military and electrical training.

Someone who really knows what they are doing could come close to paralyzing an entire country, especially if he has "non-suspicious access" to critical infrastructure, or materials going in to it, and a goodly amount of HMX explosive, about twice as potent as TNT, concealed with its detonator inside something that looks innocuous.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2011-12-21 10:16  

#3  Might have to wait until after the 2012 elections for anything to get to get lobbed into Iran. All the cans are getting kicked down the road until after elections.
Posted by: JohnQC   2011-12-21 08:49  

#2  Pretty soon they'll need a Reichstag fire to maintain power if they can;t stop all these other fires. That refinery is one that's really going to hit them hardest - an economic kick in the yarbles if it stays down for an extended period.

Might serve as a nice warning as to what happens to the Iranian economy if the Ayatollahs start a war and the US lobs a couple cruise missiles into that refinery as part of the response.
Posted by: OldSpook   2011-12-21 01:37  

#1  Even if most of these incidents are industrial accidents these rumors of sabotage have to be driving them nuts.
Posted by: tipover   2011-12-21 01:27  

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