Iran – Supreme Leader Threatens West with “Punch” on Thursday the 11th – Ahmadinejad Declares Iran to be “Nuclear State” amid Internal Protests.

Khamenie Issues Threat on West - image pb.blogspot

Earlier this week, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued the following threat:

“the Iranian nation, with its unity and God's grace, will punch the arrogance [Western powers] on the 22nd of Bahman [Feb. 11] in a way that will leave them stunned.”

This was in a statement released to Agence France-Presse on Monday.
It is now (as of this writing) 2 PM in Tehran on the 11th of February, or the 22nd Bahman according to the Iranian calendar. The date is significant in Iran, as it is a civil holiday marking the anniversary of the Khomeini’s return to Iran and the Revolution that brought the current government to power.

Barack Obama Reaches out To Iran - image ABC

What to expect from the Supreme Leader? It is difficult to say, as the threat can be open to a variety of interpretations. That said, the most likely is the announcement by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that Iran has become a “Nuclear State” . The Iranian’s have been aggressively enriching uranium despite repeated sanctions from the United Nations. The U.S. Response has been diplomancy first, then - more sanctions.

One cannot rule out any other possible “shocks” that Iran may have planned for the balance of Tuesday, but an announcement that those that rule over 70 million people, and are prone to hiring terrorists to suppress their own people, attack U.S. forces in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and generally stir the pot in the East, now are a “nuclear state” – might be shocking to some “western powers”.

Against the backdrop of the “glory of the Iranian State”, reports of protests in all provinces are coming in through Twitter and other social networking sites, despite the usual disruption of internet services each time a protest is planned. According to the AFP Opposition leaders have been attacked, and crowds were dispersed with the use of tear gas. The brutality of the Iranian Regime against its own people is also “shocking” but apparently not shocking enough for so-called “word leaders” to issue anything more than “strongly worded condemnations”.

Additionally, the main target of Iranian rhetoric is normally Israel (which technically is to the “West” of Iran), however, one would expect that had something been planned against Israel (other than the usual suicide bombers, or Hamas border crossing kidnapping, or lobbing Iranian made missiles into Israeli cities) Israeli Intelligence would have picked up on it and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is headed to Moscow next week, might have already put a stop to whatever the Iranians had planned and then sit back and wait for those “World Leaders” to blast Israel in the “Court of World Opinion”. Although, one would think, reasonably, that they would be thanking him.

Again, as it is still relatively early in Tehran on the 11th of February, the Ayatollah may have something else up one of his voluminous sleeves – after all, the regime feels fairly free to do whatever it will absent any “Western Cowboys” who might actually do something other than issue routine statements. Only time will tell. Perhaps the Ayatollah is issuing bizarre threats to match those strongly worded sanctions, each carrying equal weight.