War

President Trump’s administration is considering a proposal to label Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, according to U.S. officials. The IRGS are answerable to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei and play a highly capable part in Iran’s military. They wield considerable political and economic power and played a crucial role in defending Iran against Saddam Hussein’s aggression during the eighties.

Russia’s envoy to NATO has condemned recent moves and plans aimed at boosting the blocs military presence near Russian borders, saying they have no justification and have only served to increase tensions. During an interview with Interfax,  Aleksandr Grushko said: “In essence, by its preparations along our borders NATO tries to impose on us a confrontational agenda that has nothing to do with real needs in the security sphere.” He also said that Russia was closely following NATO’s preparations and updating their ability to respond to any potential threats.

In preparation for a possible conflict with the U.S., China has shown off its Dongfeng 16 (DF-16) medium-range ballistic missile during military drills. The Chinese Ministry of Defense released a video showing the Dongfeng in action at an unspecified forest setting during the Chinese Lunar New Year. The highly accurate ballistic missile system is nuclear capable, with a range long enough to threaten U.S. and Japanese bases in Asia. The DF-16 is said to be accurate to within a few meters of its target and has a range of over 600 miles.

One month ago we reported that Russia had deployed S-400 air defense missile systems in proximity to Moscow, which were then put on combat duty. “The SAM combat squads of the Moscow Region aerospace forces have put the new S-400 Triumph air defense missile system into service, and have gone on combat duty for the air defense of Moscow and the central industrial region of Russia,” the Defense Ministry’s Department of Information and Mass Communication told Interfax in early January. 

The Trump Administration is preparing an executive order that would direct the Pentagon to bring future Islamic State detainees to Guantánamo Bay prison, despite warnings from national security officials and legal scholars that doing so risks undermining what increasinly appears as an "illegal" war launched by Obama to combat the terrorist organization (which many have accused of being directly and indirectly created by Saudi Arabia and the US itself).