{"id":28024,"date":"2016-07-30T14:19:24","date_gmt":"2016-07-30T12:19:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/norkhosq.net\/?p=28024"},"modified":"2016-07-30T14:19:24","modified_gmt":"2016-07-30T12:19:24","slug":"the-us-saudi-plan-to-prompt-an-iranian-pullback-from-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/?p=28024","title":{"rendered":"The US-Saudi Plan to Prompt an Iranian Pullback from Syria"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" style=\"margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.globalresearch.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/saudi-arabia-usa-400x208.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"208\" height=\"108\" \/>The US and Saudi Arabia have been conspiring with one another to  engineer a series of crises that could prompt Iran to pull back its  troops in Syria and redeploy them back to the homeland. The modus  operandi has been to encourage peripheral insurgencies inside the  Islamic Republic\u2019s borderland regions concurrent with a terrorist threat  to the interior, all while stirring up Color Revolution commotion. In  short, Washington and Riyadh are working hard to wage a multidimensional  Hybrid War on Iran, and all indications point to each respective  component of this campaign intensifying in the coming months as the US  turns up the heat against its decades-long Mideast rival.<!--more--><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>The Kurdish Crisis That Nobody Talks About<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The international media \u2013 both Western and alternative \u2013 has paid a  lot of attention to the Kurds in Turkey, Syria, and Iraq, but  practically no established outlet or reliable mainstream media network  is focusing on the Iranian Kurds. For those readers who understandably  aren\u2019t aware of what\u2019s been unfolding over the past month, the\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.al-monitor.com\/pulse\/originals\/2016\/07\/iran-kurdish-party-attack-irgc.html\" target=\"_blank\">Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran<\/a> (KDPI) has been waging a vicious insurgency against Tehran on the\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/rudaw.net\/english\/middleeast\/iran\/14072016\" target=\"_blank\">pretense<\/a> that  the government has reneged on a previous ceasefire and political  guarantees. The reality, though, is that the militant Kurdish  nationalism that\u2019s been sweeping the Mideast over the past couple of  years has finally infected Iran, just as the author predicted would  inevitably happen in the scenario forecasting portion of his 2015\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/orientalreview.org\/press-release\/\" target=\"_blank\">book<\/a> about Hybrid War theory. Furthermore, this group isn\u2019t fighting for independence, but openly\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.kurdistan24.net\/en\/interview\/343c4866-e664-4fd8-9f2b-14efa0b8212a\/-Peshmerga-fight-Iran-in-Rojhalat--not-Kurdistan-Region-\" target=\"_blank\">wants<\/a> a\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/orientalreview.org\/2016\/07\/11\/macedonian-media-balkan-megaprojects-pave-way-for-grand-eurasian-free-trade-area\/\" target=\"_blank\">regime reboot<\/a> that transforms the entire Iranian system from an Islamic Republic into an\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/niiglob.ru\/en\/publications\/articles\/591-part-i-identity-federalism-from-e-pluribus-unum-to-e-unum-pluribus.html\" target=\"_blank\">Identity Federation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cPolitical Incorrectness\u201d:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The reason that this conflict isn\u2019t being talked about a lot is  because it\u2019s \u201cpolitically incorrect\u201d for both the Western and  non-Western outlets to report on. For example, unipolar-supporting  information networks seem to have an unspoken agreement to not gloat  about this occurrence, despite it obviously being to the US and Saudi  Arabia\u2019s strategic interests. It\u2019s uncertain exactly why this  peculiarity is in force, but it might have something to do with  Washington signaling to its proxies that it would prefer to wait until a  forthcoming moment to fully publicize everything that\u2019s happening,  perhaps wanting a significant victory or alleged \u201chuman rights (false  flag) violation\u201d to take place first. There\u2019s also the political  sensitivity of still abiding by the nominal \u2018d\u00e9tente\u2019 between the US and  Iran, and not wanting to feed into Tehran\u2019s well-grounded accusations  that the Kurdish combatants have international support. All of these  considerations are of course only temporary and relevant for as long as  the US refrains from permitting its mainstream information allies from  going all-out in their coverage of this conflict.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">From the other side of things, the alternative multipolar-aligned  media is hesitant to report anything that presents the Kurds in a  negative light, having fallen so deep down the rabbit hole in glorifying  them for their anti-Daesh struggle that it seems almost impossible to  \u2018reverse the script\u2019 and talk about the truth of their treachery  (whether in Syria or Iran). The previous narrative of the Kurds being  \u2018brave freedom fighters\u2019 was an overly simplistic one which failed to  take into account\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/2016\/05\/18\/syrian-kurds-accused-of-ethnic-cleansing-and-killing-opponents\/\" target=\"_blank\">documented<\/a> human rights abuses by this group\u2019s leading militias or the Syrian Kurds\u2019 own\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/katehon.com\/article\/kurds-hate-filled-federalization-manifesto-part-iii\" target=\"_blank\">hate-filled manifesto<\/a> against  Damascus. Instead of investigating who the anti-Daesh Kurdish militias  really were and where their international loyalties lay, alternative  media broadcasters opted to jump on the bandwagon of calling them  \u201cheroes\u201d and implicitly lending normative acceptance to their  autonomy\/\u201dfederalization\u201d\/independence demands, especially in the  immediate aftermath of Turkey backstabbing Russia, and thereby  inadvertently falling into the US\u2019 trap of building geopolitical  legitimacy for the same groups that are now fighting to dismantle Syria  and Iran.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Foreign Invasion:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">To qualify the specifics of what\u2019s been happening in northwestern  Iran, it\u2019s not indigenous Kurds that are \u201crevolting\u201d, but Iraqi-based  Iranian Kurds that are invading the country from their safe haven in the  Kurdish Regional Government (KRG). These cross-border attacks have  become so bad and raised such a military-strategic alarm back in Tehran  that the government even said that they\u2019ll launch their own\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-middle-east-36649782\" target=\"_blank\">retaliatory cross-border strikes<\/a> and  engage in hot pursuits if they found it tactically necessary to defeat  these terrorists. Iran knows that these militant incursions are  supported by KRG President Barzani, which is another one of the many  reasons that it has for\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/rudaw.net\/english\/middleeast\/iran\/23062016\" target=\"_blank\">supporting<\/a> the  opposition Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Change Movement  (Gorran) against the Kurdish chieftain\u2019s Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP).  Moreover, the oil pipeline that Iran\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.al-monitor.com\/pulse\/originals\/2016\/06\/iran-kurdistan-regional-government-pipeline-energy-deal.html\" target=\"_blank\">plans<\/a> to  build to Iraq will extend to the KRG PUK-influenced city of Koysinjaq,  which will eventually give a long-term boost to that party at the  expense of the KDP.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The hostile forces behind this anti-Iranian insurgent war are much bigger than Barzani, and Tehran has actually\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.kurdistan24.net\/en\/news\/efadae88-edf1-41e7-b26e-2f6b5cca8f23\/Saudi-Consulate-in-Erbil-denies-Iranian-allegations\" target=\"_blank\">accused<\/a> its  rival Riyadh of being the mastermind behind this war. Both the Saudis  and the KRG expectedly denied these claims, but bearing in mind just how  intense the regional competition is between Iran and Saudi Arabia right  now, it\u2019s completely plausible that the Kingdom would seek to  capitalize off of the Kurds\u2019 battle-hardened fighting skills and massive  undercurrents of international support as a means of sowing unrest  within the Islamic Republic. It would actually be uncharacteristically  strange if the Saudis weren\u2019t involved in this plot to some extent or  another since they have a long track record of using all means available  against their chief international opponent, so employing the Kurds as  convenient allies in this larger regional proxy struggle would fully  correspond to their previous pattern of strategic behavior. Therefore,  despite being vehemently denied by the Saudis and their alleged KRG  henchmen, observers have every reason to accept Iran\u2019s claims about  Riyadh\u2019s covert military support to the KDPI and thenceforth proceed  from this point of reasonable understanding.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cLead From Behind\u201d:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">As could have been expected, the US is playing a very strong \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/sputniknews.com\/columnists\/20150129\/1017517136.html\" target=\"_blank\">Lead From Behind<\/a>\u201d  role in indirectly funding this insurgency and strengthening its  viability. Instead of openly having anything to do with the KDPI and  thereby possibly compromising their \u201cindependence\u201d and the mythos behind  their \u201corganic uprising\u201d, the US chooses instead to syphon money and  supplies to the fighters through its KRG proxy. Just the other day  Washington clinched an\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2016\/07\/signs-military-aid-deal-iraq-kurdish-fighters-160714071048418.html\" target=\"_blank\">historic deal<\/a> to  provide the KRG with $415 million for ammunition, food, pay, and  medical equipment, though it\u2019s highly probable that some of these funds  and equipment will be purposely laundered to the KDPI. It\u2019s an open  secret among many that the KRG functions as the headquarters of the  international Kurdish militant movement, though for reasons of political  sensitivity and Great Power politics, this isn\u2019t officially  acknowledged by any major players except for self-interested Turkey from  time to time.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The KRG first functioned as a safe haven for the PKK, though this has  been changing in recent years as Barzani increasingly makes it known  that he\u2019s Erdogan\u2019s main capo in keeping control over the region.  Therefore, while the PKK has found the KRG to be less friendly of a host  than it was before, the same can\u2019t necessarily be said about the YPG,  which cultivate such strong cross-border contacts with their brethren in  northern Iraq that they even\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2014\/nov\/01\/kurdish-peshmerga-kobani-isis-syria\" target=\"_blank\">called upon them<\/a> to  \u2018save the day\u2019 by helping in the defense of Ayn al-Arab (popularly  known in the international media by its Kurdish name \u201cKobani\u201d). As for  the KDPI, their headquarters are located in the KRG and they\u2019re known to  be close to Barzani, the recipient of the US\u2019 nearly half-a-billion  dollar largesse. For this reason, it\u2019s just as predictable that the KRG  will funnel some of its aid to its allied Syrian YPG as it would to its  allied Iranian KDPI. Additionally, it\u2019s very difficult to get any  information about the KDPI\u2019s activities in the KRG over the nearly past  two decades that it\u2019s been sheltering there, but an informed supposition  would be that they\u2019ve previously received indirect American assistance  via this framework before, if not directly through some of\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/checkpoint\/wp\/2016\/07\/11\/seizure-of-key-air-base-near-mosul-raises-prospect-of-u-s-escalation-against-isis\/\" target=\"_blank\">the hundreds of on-the-ground military trainers<\/a> that are active in the region right now.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Mideast Mischief:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The worst related scenario that could arise with the Kurdish  insurgency in Iran is if the KDPI fighters allied with the PKK and began  using Turkish territory as a launching pad for their cross-border  raids. The two militant groups have previously\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/rudaw.net\/english\/kurdistan\/24052015\" target=\"_blank\">been at odds<\/a> with  one another, but a mid-2015 meeting was meant to squash their mutual  misunderstandings. The only state actors who have an interest in the  PDPI attacking Iran from PKK-held territory in Turkey are the US and  Saudi Arabia, which would be overjoyed to see observe the deteriorating  relations between the two neighbors if Iran reacts by threatening  cross-border retaliation and Ankara expectedly vows to defend its  sovereignty in response. There\u2019s no guarantee that either of these  governments would react in this way, but it would be irresponsible to  ignore the grand strategic interests that the US and Saudi Arabia have  in working to bring this scenario into fruition.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">On a related tangent, if it\u2019s revealed that members of the KDPI are  sheltering in the northern Syrian territories presently occupied by\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/ekurd.net\/iranian-kurdish-kdpi-offers-help-pkk-pyd-in-syrian-kurdistan-2015-06-05\" target=\"_blank\">their YPG allies<\/a>,  then Tehran might predictably put pressure on Damascus to neutralize  them as soon as possible. This in turn could move forward the likely  scenario of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) carrying out a disarmament  campaign against the YPG, perhaps even advancing it to before the full  defeat of Daesh. In that case, it wouldn\u2019t necessarily be to Damascus\u2019  full advantage to initiate its law and order operation in the occupied  northern territories until its most pressing domestic foe is vanquished,  but conditions such as the ones just described might pop up to give it  little choice in choosing the time of engagement. President Assad would  obviously have the full and final say over whether and when the SAA\u00a0  takes on the YPG, but Iranian encouragement and possibly even a\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/katehon.com\/article\/russia-turkey-and-kurdish-issue\" target=\"_blank\">Russian-promoted secret deal with Turkey<\/a> in the context of Ankara\u2019s\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2016\/jul\/13\/turkey-pm-greatest-goal-is-to-improve-relations-with-syria-and-iraq\" target=\"_blank\">reported re-engagement<\/a> with  Damascus might press it to do so sooner than many people might expect,  especially if a significant KDPI (and PKK) connection can be undeniably  proven.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Balochistan Rumblings<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Nowhere near as urgent of a crisis as the Kurdish one, and truthfully  not yet even at that dire of a stage, the return of Baloch separatism  in Iran could force Tehran into a geopolitical siege mentality and  herald in the full splitting of its military-strategic focus. Baloch  insurgents haven\u2019t been too particularly active in Iran for some time,  but they haven\u2019t been invisible, either. They returned to the fore of  Iran\u2019s eastern challenges in the mid-2000s when a\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.jamestown.org\/programs\/tm\/single\/?tx_ttnews%255Btt_news%255D=37365&amp;cHash=8e6dc60bd4#.V4j6iPmLQdU\" target=\"_blank\">spree of terrorism<\/a> jolted the Sistan and Baluchistan Province, and it\u2019s\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stratfor.com\/geopolitical-diary\/iran-threat-within\" target=\"_blank\">persistently<\/a>carried  on ever since. Still, the problems that Iran is facing with this  potential crisis pale in comparison that of its Pakistani neighbor,  which has\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/tribune.com.pk\/story\/935836\/indias-raw-afghanistans-nds-fueling-terrorism-in-balochistan-ig-fc\/\" target=\"_blank\">accused both India and Afghanistan<\/a>of  aiding the insurgency. Both of Islamabad\u2019s neighbors have a  geostrategic self-interest in weakening their mutually adjacent  neighbor, though it must be said that they\u2019re very likely doing this  with some sort of advisory and\/or subtle encouragement from the US.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">From Information To Insurgency:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Actually, the US seems primed to fuel the anti-Pakistani Baloch insurgency through its\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.business-standard.com\/article\/international\/us-congressman-urges-voa-to-start-balochi-service-116071500217_1.html\" target=\"_blank\">contemplation<\/a> of  a separate Baloch-language \u201cVoice of America\u201d (VOA) service. Although  words are literally only just that \u2013 words \u2013 they could play a powerful  role in persuading susceptible and misguided Balochi youth to sympathize  with the insurgents and then take up arms alongside these very same  fighters that the US influenced them to idolize. Thus, even though the  US might not be directly involved or even indirectly have any physical  influence on the situation, it could still harness its information  services to act as a force multiplier for the efforts of its regional  Afghan and Indian allies, both of whom are provoking this conflict with  the intent of disrupting the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic  Corridor.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Rolling Across The Border:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">As the conflict in Pakistan\u2019s Balochistan Province heats up \u2013 which  it\u2019s sure to do if the US makes the decision to launch a Balochi VOA  service \u2013 then it\u2019s probable that the insurgency will eventually spill  over into Iran\u2019s Sistan and Baluchistan Province as well, whether or not  the US\u2019 allies even intend for this to happen. The fact is that  asymmetrical wars rarely go according to plan, and that the probability  of the nascent US-Afghan-Indian South Asian axis successfully containing  their Baloch insurgency inside of Pakistan\u2019s borders is very low. More  than likely, Pakistani-based militants will try to link up with their  Iranian brethren, who might also end up encouraged by the VOA\u2019s  prospective Balochi broadcasts, and thus create a low-intensity  international crisis. Ironically, this would actually be the detriment  of Kabul and New Delhi\u2019s grand strategy since they plan to use\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2016\/may\/29\/india-iran-chabahar-port-deal-reveals-tense-asian-\/\" target=\"_blank\">India\u2019s investments<\/a> in  the Iranian Baloch port of Chabahar to spearhead a trans-Iranian  north-south corridor between them, and the destabilization of Sistan and  Baluchistan Province would be counterintuitive to their goals.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Geopolitical Cynicism:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The only one of the mentioned actors who would gain some sort of a  benefit from this happening is the US, which has an interest in stoking  Baloch separatism in eastern Iran so as to geographically split Tehran\u2019s  military-strategic focus. It\u2019s not too important to Washington whether  this interferes with the Afghan-Indian intermodal corridor through  Chabahar (although the sustainable creation of this is also a long-term  strategic goal for the US) because at the moment, it appears that the US  has placed a much higher priority on destabilizing Iran along both its  Western (Kurdish) and Eastern (Balochi) flanks. Earlier this month Iran\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.presstv.ir\/Detail\/2016\/07\/07\/474043\/Iran-Pakistan-Saeed-Montazer-Mahdi-Sistan-Baluchestan\" target=\"_blank\">revealed<\/a> that  terrorists killed four border guards and then fled into Pakistan,  proving that the internationalization of the Balochi separatist crisis  might have already begun. Just like with the Kurdish one on the other  side of the country, the US and its regional allied conspirators are  crossing their fingers that this leads to a deterioration of bilateral  relations between Iran and its neighbor, which in the Pakistani case  would complicate China\u2019s One Belt One Road vision of connectivity  between the two, while any prospective Afghani one could be used to  justify a prolonged American military presence in the occupied country  after the resolution of the Taliban War.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Daesh And Sectarian Drama<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Not to be forgotten, the world\u2019s most notorious terrorist group has  long had their sights set on Iran, with their foreign backers eager to  use the nominally \u201cSunni\u201d organization to aggravate the sectarian proxy  war with the Shiite-majority Islamic Republic. Daesh has yet to strike  Iran, but they were\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/europe.newsweek.com\/isis-operatives-paid-600000-euros-carry-out-biggest-ever-attack-tehran-477629?rm=eu\" target=\"_blank\">accused<\/a> of  plotting one of the country\u2019s largest-ever terrorist attacks late last  month that would have seen them bombing around 50 places in and around  Tehran. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) thankfully foiled  the attack before it could be carried out, but Iran still remains one of  the group\u2019s most sought-after targets, especially if one accepts the  thesis that American and Saudi intelligence agents still hold partial  influence over some of the group\u2019s members. Washington and Riyadh are  dedicated to undermining Tehran as much as they can, and a large-scale  terrorist bombing campaign in the capital would have a tremendous effect  in producing panic and making some segments of society susceptible to  hostile suggestions that the government \u201cdidn\u2019t\u2019 do enough\u201d to protect  them or that the state\u2019s response is \u201cheavy-handed\u201d and \u201cdictatorial\u201d  (e.g. if they enforce curfews, deploy the IRGC\/troops in the streets in  response, and\/or raid terrorist safe houses in Sunni-inhabited areas of  the country).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Prognosticating the most predictable chain of events that could  happen in the tragic event that this scenario becomes actualized one  day, it\u2019s foreseeable that Iran might launch highly publicized attacks  against Daesh in Syria and\/or Iraq, which would have near-equal symbolic  and substantial value in exacting revenge for what happened.  Unfortunately, Iran\u2019s self-defensive actions would instantly be  exploited by the US and its Saudi-Qatari allies in triggering an  amplified information campaign alleging that Tehran was carrying out a  \u201csectarian attack\u201d. Never mind that it\u2019s highly doubtful that Iran would  ever actually do such a thing as militantly foster sectarian hatred,  but the social effect of such disinformation would be to aggravate the  regional sectarianism that Saudi Arabia has been furiously promoting  over the past decade with the intent of producing an indigenous militant  reaction inside of Iran itself. Little known among most casual  observers is that some of Iran\u2019s borderland minorities are Sunni, and  while hitherto unreceptive to the Saudis\u2019 sectarian rhetoric and mostly  content with the equality that they enjoy within Iran, a few of them are  vulnerable to believing Riyadh\u2019s lie that Tehran is going on a  retributive killing spree against Sunnis.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The groups that the Saudis would specifically be targeting with this  weaponized disinformation are the Kurds, Balochis, and Arabs in  Kurdistan, Sistan and Baluchistan, and Khuzstan Provinces, respectively.  Most of these aforementioned minority categories are Sunni, and all  three of them have a history of anti-government rebellion, with the  first two actively engaged in such activities at the moment. The Arabs  were previously reached out to by Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq  War (the First Gulf War) and it\u2019s common sense that the Saudis and  Qataris have been trying to interact with this demographic for years  already, but neither were successful in fomenting significant enough  unrest that it truly destabilized the Islamic Republic. Interestingly,  Iran\u2019s foreign foes have had a much higher degree of success in doing so  with the Kurds and now the Balochis, though the strategic risk can\u2019t be  ignored that a major Daesh terrorist attack or series thereof within  the country (and the consequent weaponized disinformation that it  produces) could push members of this group past the tipping point and  inspire them to pick up arms alongside their fellow peripheral  militants.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Cooking Up A Color Revolution<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The US\u2019 most commonly resorted-to method of regime change in recent  years, the Color Revolution, is of course also part and parcel of the  plan that it and the Saudis have to prompt an Iranian pullback from  Syria. Even though the 2009 \u201cGreen Revolution\u201d abysmally failed, the  lessons learned from this test run were used to perfect the \u201cArab  Spring\u201d theater-wide Color Revolutions that were unleashed two years  later, and they were also applied in modifying the future strategies  that would once again be used against Iran, too.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Right now it\u2019s unclear to what extent the population is susceptible  to a \u201cGreen Revolution 2.0\u201d, though it\u2019s safe to say that the youth \u2013 as  always \u2013 are the group most likely to be influenced to partake in this  operation. Iran has a\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.slate.com\/articles\/news_and_politics\/explainer\/2009\/06\/the_iranian_baby_boom.html\" target=\"_blank\">profoundly large youth bulge<\/a> with  around 60% of its population being under the age of 30, so there are  more than ample enough recruits for the US\u2019 plans when it finally  decides to launch a rebranded version of them. Another thing to add is  that this demographic appears to overwhelmingly tilt towards the  \u201cmoderates\u201d, which also adds another layer of intrigue that the US will  probably seek to utilize in inflaming\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/en.riss.ru\/analysis\/19569\/\" target=\"_blank\">Iran\u2019s inter-elite split<\/a> between this group and the \u201cconservatives\u201d.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Though some voices have confidently asserted that a Color Revolution  could never break out in Iran again, such arrogant statements absolutely  dismiss the factual evidence that the US and its allies are actively  preparing to repeat this scenario in the future, whether or not it  ultimately succeeds. As the most indisputable confirmation that this is  the case, one needs to look no further than the streets of Paris last  week. The\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/majid-rafizadeh\/free-iran-the-largest-ira_b_10912306.html\" target=\"_blank\">largest-ever \u201cFree Iran\u201d rally<\/a> was  held in the French capital and attracted over 100,000 people. This  hostile gathering not only had the tacit support of the French state  that allowed it (and whose Ambassador was angrily\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.rferl.org\/content\/iran-summons-french-ambassador-over-opposition-rally-paris-peoples-mujahedin-exiles\/27855265.html\" target=\"_blank\">summoned<\/a> by Tehran in response), but also the direct encouragement of a\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/gulfnews.com\/news\/mena\/iran\/saudi-prince-in-push-for-iran-regime-change-at-paris-opposition-conference-1.1859664\" target=\"_blank\">Saudi prince<\/a> who  spoke at the event. Perhaps most chillingly, though, was the  participation of the \u201cNational Council of Resistance of Iran\u201d, an  umbrella group of anti-government movements that even includes the  People\u2019s Mujahedin of Iran (popularly known by its MEK abbreviation),  which was previously on the US State Department\u2019s list of Foreign  Terrorist Organization\u2019s until it was \u2018<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.state.gov\/r\/pa\/prs\/ps\/2012\/09\/198443.htm\" target=\"_blank\">delisted<\/a>\u2019 in 2012. Seen by many as the most dangerous terrorist group to ever operate within Iran, the MEK has\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.globalresearch.ca\/us-war-on-iran-takes-bizarre-turn-us-covert-support-to-mujahedeen-e-khalq-mek\/5410006\" target=\"_blank\">links<\/a> to  the US and Saudi Arabia, and it\u2019s very likely that they\u2019ll play some  form of vanguard urban terrorist role in setting off a \u201cGreen Revolution  2.0\u201d inside Iran whenever its foreign state sponsors decide that the  time is ripe to do so.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Concluding Thoughts<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The three interlinked destabilizations enumerated above have the  potential to combine in such a way as to generate a serious  multidimensional crisis in Iran. At the moment, only the Kurdish Crisis  has been visibly activated, though the Baloch Insurgency seems to be  gaining ground in recent years. It\u2019s thus most accurate to state that  the strategy of externally influenced peripheral destabilization inside  of Iran\u2019s borderland provinces is the first step of the three to \u2018go  live\u2019, and even so, it\u2019s still in its opening stages. Had the Daesh  bombings not been proactively dealt with, then the sudden introduction  of the second step of sectarian violence could have realistically  catalyzed the peripheral conflicts and possibly sped up the  implementation of the third step, another Color Revolution or a \u201cGreen  Revolution 2.0\u201d.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Looking back at the events of the past month and seeing evidence that  all three steps are vigorously being promoted in one way or another  (the Kurdish insurgent invasion, the attempted Daesh bombings, and the  largest-ever anti-Tehran Color Revolution rally in Paris), it should be  self-evident to all Iranian decision makers and strategists that their  country is explicitly being targeted for Hybrid Warfare and that  precautionary defensive actions need to be taken as soon as possible.  Just as the US expects, this could realistically take the form of part  or all of the IRGC\u2019s redeployment from Syria (and possibly also Iraq)  back to the Iranian home front where they\u2019d be much more urgently needed  in assisting with internal (border and urban) security. Although  ill-intentioned rumors (mostly created by Tehran\u2019s adversaries) have  abounded for a while now that Iran will pull some of its troops out from  Syria, the recent events expounded upon earlier in this article give  credence to the idea that Tehran might actually have a fairly legitimate  reason for finally doing so in preemptively defending its own security,  even if this means that it\u2019s falling into the US-Saudi trap that was  created to induce this very decision. Although there is no evidence that  Iran has pulled back its forces from Syria, it could very well be  contemplating such a move in the face of what its leadership might  consider to be the much more urgent threats afflicting the homeland.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The most ironic aspect of this plot, though, is that it occurs at the  exact same time that the US is considering to officially cooperate with  Russia in its anti-terrorist operation in Syria through the tentatively  proposed \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/world\/2016\/07\/14\/leaked-proposal-us-offering-russia-military-pact-syria\/87069784\/\" target=\"_blank\">Joint Implementation Group<\/a>\u201d,  though it can be inferred that this possible twist of fate wasn\u2019t at  all countenanced by American strategists when they conspired with the  Saudis in devising this grand Iranian trap. Instead, it was the surprise  Russian-Turkish d\u00e9tente that completely changed the geopolitical  dynamics by influencing Ankara to\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/sputniknews.com\/middleeast\/20160703\/1042376436\/ankara-moscow-agreement-alnusra-syria.html\" target=\"_blank\">belatedly declare<\/a> that al-Nusra is a terrorist group and to publicly\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2016\/jul\/13\/turkey-pm-greatest-goal-is-to-improve-relations-with-syria-and-iraq\" target=\"_blank\">make outreaches<\/a> to  Syria (despite repeating its \u2018face-saving\u2019 refrain that \u201cAssad must  go\u201d). This means that while Iran might draw down some of its  on-the-ground forces to protect its homeland, Russia might  correspondingly increase its own aerospace ones in the battlespace,  though Moscow would still be unable to compensate for the strategic  withdrawal of Tehran\u2019s much-needed frontline forces unless it takes the  very unlikely decision to deploy its own boots on the ground to augment  the Syrian Arab Army.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Even without this happening, a recommitted Russian aerospace campaign with the\u00a0<strong>political will<\/strong> of  seeing the war out to its logical end could be more than enough to  restore the military balance that would be temporarily offset by the  partial withdrawal of some of Iran\u2019s highly skilled special forces,  though a robust combination of Syrian-Russian-Iranian interservice  forces would be necessary to ultimately secure whatever gains are made  and assist with the probable post-Daesh liberation campaign against the  illegal YPG-occupied areas of northern Syria.<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\">The original source of this article is <a href=\"http:\/\/katehon.com\/article\/us-saudi-plan-prompt-iranian-pullback-syria\" target=\"_blank\">Katehon<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\">Copyright \u00a9 <a title=\"Posts by Andrew Korybko\" href=\"http:\/\/www.globalresearch.ca\/author\/andrew-korybko\">Andrew Korybko<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/katehon.com\/article\/us-saudi-plan-prompt-iranian-pullback-syria\" target=\"_blank\">Katehon<\/a>, 2016<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.globalresearch.ca\/the-us-saudi-plan-to-prompt-an-iranian-pullback-from-syria\/5537777\" target=\"_blank\">www.globalresearch.ca<\/a><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The US and Saudi Arabia have been conspiring with one another to engineer a series of crises that could prompt Iran to pull back its troops in Syria and redeploy&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28024"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28025,"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28024\/revisions\/28025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}