Iran Monitoring U.S. Troop Movements?

Not that using satellite technology is anything new in warfare, but it's curious that they're making note of it while their carnival act of a "president" is traipsing around New York.

Iran watching U.S. troops, says in missile range

TEHRAN (Reuters) - U.S. troop movements are being monitored by Iran using satellites and other technology and would be in range of Iranian missiles if an attack was launched, a top Iranian military official said.

In remarks published by Iranian newspapers on Monday, Yahya Rahim Safavi, an advisor to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also said he did not expect any U.S. attack because America was too bogged down in Iraq.

Bogged down, according to them. Though if the time comes to take out the Iranian nuclear sites, we won't be using ground forces currently stationed in Iraq.

Speculation about a U.S. attack has been spurred on by comments by French officials who have said an extra diplomatic push was needed to avoid the possibility of a war with Iran.

"Iran has now a strong intelligence system and missiles. We are closely watching the foreigners' moves in neighboring countries by highly advanced satellite technology and advanced radars. If they enter our airspace or our territorial waters, they will get a fair response," Rahim Safavi said.

"It seems very unlikely that foreign troops in the region could start another attack because they have been busy with the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and they should focus on that," he added in comments carried by Iran Daily.

Sounds more like they're trying to discourage an attack by using such bluster.

Say Thanks, You Ungrateful Brits

You've almost got to give this guy style points for sheer audacity.

Say thank you, says hostage taker’s brother

The London-based brother of the Iranian general who personally ordered the kidnapping of the 15 servicemen in the Shatt al-Arab waterway condemned Britain’s ingratitude after their release last week.

Salman Rahim Safavi, an academic and brother of Major-General Yahya Rahim Safavi, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said: “We sent the boys back as a gift to the British people and Tony Blair didn’t even say thank you.”

Safavi, who is in close contact with his brother in Iran, warned that the Tehran leadership has been angry about British reaction since the hostages arrived home and hinted at a tougher response in future.

He said in his first interview: “Tony Blair is unfair. Only a day after we released his soldiers Blair denounced Iran and described us as a country that supports terrorism. This is unacceptable.

“Blair is just like George W Bush. After we cooperated with America in Afghanistan against the Taliban, Bush called us part of the axis of evil.”

So let's get this straight. You kidnap the sailors in Iraqi waters, parade them around for two weeks, realize the game is up, send them home, and they should say thanks? The scary thing is, there are probably a lot of Brits who agree with this maniac.

Meanwhile, the frightened fifteen may be cashing in (via LGF).

Ridiculous.

Mark Steyn is not amused by any of this:

Tony Blair was at pains to point out that the hostages were released ''without any deal, without any negotiation, without any side agreement of any nature.'' But he's missing (or artfully sidestepping) the point: Tehran didn't want a deal. It wanted the humbling of the Great Satan's principal ally. And it got it. Very easily. And it paid no price for it. And it has tested in useful ways the empty pretensions of the U.N., the EU and also NATO, whose second largest fleet is now a laughingstock in a part of the world where it helps to be taken seriously.

Read the rest.

More Iran items, in particular, Fred Thompson blogging at Red State, at Riehl World View, Captain's Quarters, Six Meat Buffet, EU Referendum.