Iran Hoists the Red Flag of War Above Holy City
For the first time in history, Iran has hoisted the red flag of war over one of the country’s holiest mosques.
The banner was raised Saturday over the Jamkaran mosque on the outskirts of the Iranian city of Qom, and by all appearances is a response to the violent killing of Iranian terrorist Qassem Soleimani, leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force.
This is the first time in the mosque’s history it has raised a red flag, the New York Daily News reported.
The blood-red standard, flying from one of the mosque’s minarets, is a symbol for spilled blood and a call for revenge in Shia Islam, according to The Sun, a U.K. tabloid.
Where the banner was raised is just as important as its inherent meaning. Qom — and the area surrounding it — is the site of several important shrines for Shiite Muslims, and serves as a major center of religious learning for the sect.
The choice to raise the standard in the area may have another meaning — Qom sits just 20 miles away from one of Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities.
Watch the flag being raised in the video below.
Soleimani was killed near Baghdad International Airport in Iraq early Friday. His convoy was targeted and destroyed by an American MQ-9 Reaper drone.
The strike, ordered by President Donald Trump, drew praise around the world but disapproval from Iran and critics of the president in America.
Democrats and some in the establishment media rushed to paint Soleimani not as a bloodthirsty terrorist, but as a gentle and introspective man.
Since the explosive killing, Iran has made it clear that it will retaliate.
Although the country has been quiet about details of any future plans of attack against America, the raising of the red flag hints that Iran is not going to forget Soleimani’s explosive death anytime soon.
The proximity to a nuclear enrichment facility may play into Iran’s threats of Israeli and American annihilation.
Trump, for his part, maintains that his actions against Soleimani were not to start a war, but to prevent one.
It now appears that the ball is in Iran’s court.
The country’s choice either to go forward with a wild jihad or pursue a path of peace will help determine its future, as well as ours.
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