Report: Iran Planned Assassinating U.S. General, Targeting Army Base

According to senior U.S. intelligence officials, the Iranian theocratic regime planned an attack against the U.S. Army base Fort McNair in Washington D.C. and an assassination attempt targeting Gen. Joseph M. Martin, the Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, who lives on the base.

In January, the National Security Agency intercepted chatter among members of the terrorist wing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, the Quds force, which focused on getting revenge for the U.S. killing of the former Quds leader, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, in Baghdad in January 2020. Those conversations included the idea of “USS Cole-style attacks” against Fort McNair.

On October 12, 2000, the terrorist group al Qaeda attacked the USS Cole, which was stationed in Aden harbor. A small fiberglass boat loaded with C4 explosives and guided by two terrorists exploded as it neared the side of the U.S. ship, slicing a 40-by-60-foot gash in the ship; 17 U.S. Navy sailors were killed and thirty-seven were injured.

Fort McNair is the third oldest Army base in the United States after the United States Military Academy at West Point in New York, founded in 1802, and the Carlisle Barracks in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Martin’s bio per the U.S. Army reads:

From 1987 to 1990, he served as a tank platoon leader, scout platoon leader, and company executive officer in the 1st Battalion, 37th Armor Regiment, 1st Armored Division. Upon graduation from the Armor Officer Advanced Course, Martin was assigned to 4th Battalion, 37th Armor Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, where he commanded Company B during Operation Desert Storm and at Fort Riley, Kansas. He then commanded the 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, during Operation Iraqi Freedom in Ba’Qubah, Iraq and at Fort Hood, Texas. Martin commanded the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division from Fort Riley, Kansas, and deployed with that command to serve in northwest Baghdad, Iraq.

Following brigade command, he became the chief of staff of III Corps in Fort Hood, Texas. From June 2012 to April 2013, Martin commanded the U.S. Army Operational Test Command. Martin served as deputy commanding general (Maneuver) for 1st Cavalry Division, commanding general of National Training Center, Fort Irwin, California, and commanding general of 1st Infantry Division, where he deployed and commanded the Combined Joint Force Land Component Command in Operation Inherent Resolve. His most recent assignment was the director of the Army Staff.

Martin has stated, “I have had no greater privilege than leading and serving with the great men and women of our United States Army, and am truly blessed to be able to continue being by their side as Vice Chief of Staff.”

The Daily Wire reported in early January:

Top Iranian officials have kicked off the new year by suggesting that they may attempt to assassinate President Donald Trump after he leaves office in retaliation for U.S. forces killing Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force (IRGC-QF), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, last year.

Videos of the remarks by Ebrahim Raisi, head of Iran’s judiciary, and IRGC General Esmail Qaani, commander of the Qods Force, were posted online and translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), which tracks Islamic extremism, anti-Semitism and anti-American sentiment around the world.

Raisi specifically suggested that Iranian “hard revenge” included targeting “the U.S. president,” saying that those involved “will [not] be safe anywhere on the globe.”

“The (Americans) should wait for the hard revenge,” Raisi said on January 1. “The beloved resistance forces will determine the place and the time. The Islamic nation knows at what point in time and where this revenge will be exacted. The enemy should know that its life will be very difficult from now on. The resistance movement will make the enemy’s life much more difficult, in revenge for the blood of the martyr Soleimani. One of the aspects of the hard revenge will be driving the Americans out of the region.”

“Punishing those who gave the order and those who committed the crime is another aspect of this hard revenge,” Raisi continued. “I am addressing the enemy. Let no one think that if someone holds the position of the U.S. President, yet he commits or orders a murder, he will be immune to the enforcement of law and justice and will remain on the sidelines. Never! Those who played a role in this assassination, in this crime, none of them will be safe anywhere on the globe. This is final. The steel willpower of the resistance movement will exact hard revenge from them.”

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