US Intelligence has known since spring that Iran has been plotting to assassinate Lana Marks, Ambassador to Africa. But recently the threats have become more specific and being run out of the Iranian embassy in Pretoria. It is believed she is being targeted because she has been friends with Trump for 20 years and the plot is revenge for the killing of Qassem Soleimani — a terrorist Iranian general.
Marks is a successful handbag designer. Her handbags sell for tens of thousands of dollars. She has been an ambassador for about a year. She has many contacts overseas. Naturally, they are not commenting on steps they have taken to protect her. No use tipping off the enemy. Joe Biden plans to reenter the crappy deal he and Barack Obama made with the Iranians.
The U.S. government released the following information on Soleimani following the strike:
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Since 1998, Qassem Soleimani commanded Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force (IRGC-QF), the terror arm of the Iranian regime. The IRGC-QF is tasked with planning and executing terror and military operations outside Iran’s borders. Under Soleimani’s command, the IRGC-QF has fueled destabilizing sectarian conflicts throughout the Middle East for decades.
- The IRGC-QF continues to wage an illegal campaign of terrorism, assassinations, and violence. At Soleimani’s direction and with his oversight and guidance, the IRGC-QF has planned and conducted terrorist attacks across six continents and inside the United States.
- The United States designated IRGC-QF a Foreign Terrorist Organization for its activities, and the United States designated Soleimani as a Specially-Designated Global Terrorist.
- As the leader of the IRGC-QF, Qassem Soleimani was directly responsible for arming, funding, and training proxy groups in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain, Yemen, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. Operations carried out by these proxy groups have led to the death and suffering of tens of thousands, including many hundreds of Americans. These proxies routinely target and kill civilians, intensify sectarian conflicts, and prolong the suffering of innocent men, women, and children.
- Soleimani personally directed and provided arms to militias in Iraq for more than a decade. These militias undermine the sovereignty of the Iraqi state, threaten the legitimacy of Iraq’s security forces, and target American citizens and forces. With Soleimani’s support and lethal assistance, proxies of the IRGC-QF targeted and killed over 600 Americans between 2003 and 2011.