Virginia,
USAmbassador Lana Marks
Iran is weighing an assassination attempt against the US ambassador to South Africa, Politico reported on Monday.
Citing multiple US
intelligence sources and a CIA global threats document, the report said it
would be the Islamic Republic’s preferred method of retaliating against US
President Donald Trump’s assassination of Revolutionary Guards commander
Qasem Soleimani in January.
Although at the time Tehran
took action by firing missiles on US army bases in Iraq, American casualties
were low and most Israeli and US intelligence officials told The Jerusalem Post
at the time that it was likely that there would be more attacks at a later
date.
An attack now could also
serve to undermine perceptions of US power as Washington tries to realign the
Middle East against the ayatollahs following Israel’s normalization deals with
the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
The UAE and Bahrain are both
ruled by Sunnis who want to work with Israel and the US against Iran’s
aspirations to dominate the region.
An assassination of a US ambassador could also undermine Trump in his re-election campaign, or could pull him into a new round of conflict as he tries to show that he has put Iran on ice.
Guards commander Qasem Soleimani |
Politico said that US
officials have been aware of a general threat against Ambassador Lana Marks
since the spring but it added that details had become more specific in recent
weeks, noting that the Iranian embassy in Pretoria was involved, although
Tehran was also considering other options for retaliation.
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