REVENGE SERVED COLD
Iran releases mock video of Donald Trump being assassinated by drone on golf course in revenge for Soleimani killing
IRAN has released a bizarre animated video showing former US President Donald Trump being assassinated by a drone as he plays golf.
The short video, published on the website of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, is in revenge for the killing of top military officer Qasem Soleimani in January 2020.
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Titled 'Revenge is inevitable', the video opens with a shot of what is supposed to be "Trump's house" in Palm Beach, Florida.
An American flag is waving in the wind on a golf course, where Trump, wearing a red 'MAGA' hat, and four other men are standing.
Suddenly, the video cuts to a small remote-controlled vehicle with a mounted camera. We see a drone operator in an office full of screens following the feed.
On the screen next to him is a photo of Soleimani. The operator hacks into a nearby CCTV so that the remote-controlled vehicle can pass by unnoticed.
We then cut to aerial footage from a drone as it approaches Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort while the small vehicle zooms in on the ex-Commander-in-Chief on the golf course.
The drone operator then hacks into the phones of Trump and one other man, as a message appears: "Soleimani's murderer and the one who gave the order will pay the price."
It ends as the drone flies directly over Trump while he reads the ominous message on his phone.
The screen then cuts to black with the message in English and Farsi: "Revenge is Definite."
In a statement accompanying the video on Khamenei's website, Iran's Supreme Leader says the clip was released "on the eve of the second anniversary of the martyrdom of General Haj Qasem Soleimani and the accompanying martyrs based on the statements of Ayatollah Khamenei about Martyr Soleimani".
It quotes Khamenei as saying in a recent meeting with Soleimani's family: "Martyr Soleimani is permanent, he is alive forever.
"Those who martyred him - Trump and his ilk - are in the dustbin of history and will be forgotten in the dustbin of history, but he is alive forever.
"The martyr is like this and his enemies will be lost and buried. Of course, God willing, they will be lost and buried after they pay the price for their worldliness."
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This is not the first time Iran has released bizarre fake videos for propaganda purposes.
In May last year, a video of the US Capitol being blown up by a missile was leaked on Iranian state TV.
The doctored footage was reportedly taken from the film "White House Down" released in 2013.
In a speech by Khamenei where the footage was shown, he praised the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), who have repeatedly launched missions against the United States, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
"The Americans have for years been deeply saddened by the Islamic republic's influence, and they were angry with General Soleimani for this reason and martyred him for this reason," he claimed.
Those who martyred him - Trump and his ilk - are in the dustbin of history
Ayatollah Khamenei
At the time, Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania hit out at the fake attack, and tweeted a video of Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif.
"The Biden admin's priority should be ensuring Iran cannot carry out such an attack, not capitulating by removing sanctions," he wrote.
Just days after Soleimani's assassination in 2020, mocked-up footage of a gunman aiming at Trump was published by the Fars News Agency.
The clip, shared by Middle East media research institute MEMRI on Twitter, starts with the message: "Hey US, if you begin the wear we will end the war."
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It shows a man lining up a shot on Trump before looking at a photograph of Soleimani.
Soleimani was killed on January 3, along with four others. Trump had reportedly spoken of targeting the general back in a 2017 meeting.
10 days later, officials told NBC News Trump had authorised Soleimani's assassination, and was backed by the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
The strike wasn't approved by the US Congress or consented to by the Iraqi government, and a court in Iraq issued an arrest warrant for Trump on a charge of premeditated murder, which carries the death penalty on conviction.
Iran often releases such propaganda videos as a way of "boosting the morale of its troops," according to Iranian dissident Shahin Gobadi, press spokesman for the People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran based in Paris.
"The Iranian regime is besieged by growing domestic crises and regional and international isolation," he said. "Since 2018, there have been eight major uprisings in Iran."
He added that the regime is keen to promote Soleimani as a "martyr", but that is not the case with all Iranians.
Soleimani was "the number two man in the regime," Shahin explained.
"His elimination was an irreparable blow to the clerical regime. He played a key role in suppression at home and exporting fundamentalism and terrorism in the region, the two pillars of the regime's survival.
"Qasem Soleimani was one of the most vicious criminals of Iran’s history. He was personally involved in the massacre of hundreds of thousands of people in the region and in driving millions of others from their homes.
He was also the mastermind of the massacre of the MEK members in Camp Ashraf in Iraq, and of many other terrorist operations against the Iranian Resistance in that country, in Iran, and in other countries. Qasem Soleimani was not and cannot be replaced by the regime.
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Last week, a 6-metre-high statue of the general was set on fire and torn down just hours after being unveiled in the regional capital of Shahrekord.
State media branded the vandalism a "shameful act by unknown individuals," quoting a senior Muslim cleric as saying: "This treacherous crime was carried out in darkness, just like the other crime committed at night at Baghdad airport."
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