CIA Officer Clare Lopez Warns: Iran Raises Flag That Can Be 'Seen as a Declaration of War and Call to Faithful Muslims' (Interview)

A significant historical event has occurred as a black flag is now flying over the Imam Reza shrine in Iran, marking the first time such an event has taken place. This carries profound symbolism within Islamic tradition:

A Twitter user, Maajid Nawaz, pointed out that in the Islamic historical tradition, there’s a prophetic saying that holds significance in this context: “When the black flags emerge from Khorasan (which includes parts of Persia and Central Asia), go to them, even if you have to endure the harshest conditions. Among these flag-bearers will be the divinely appointed Caliph known as the Mahdi.”

However, on Twitter, there were some who disagreed, claiming that “It wasn’t raised for the first time. It’s part of a tradition and symbolizes mourning, not war.” They insisted that Nawaz “mistakes this flag with the ‘Black Standard,’ which is a completely different thing.”

RAIR Foundation USA sought the insights of Clare M. Lopez, a distinguished expert in strategic policy and intelligence with a strong emphasis on national defense, Islam, and counterterrorism matters. Ms. Lopez, a former career operations officer with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and a recognized authority on Iran, provided the following insightful analysis when asked about the event’s significance:”

‘The black flag was raised by Shi’ite Iran at that very significant shrine to the 8th Imam is a warning to the US, Israel, and the West. Essentially, it can be seen as a declaration of war and a call to faithful Muslims to ‘Join the Caravan.'”

Now, in the realm of recent developments, as reported by The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), the Iranian regime’s alleged plan to aid Hamas in a tragic event that claimed the lives of 1,300 people, including 27 Americans, takes center stage. MEMRI’s report also sheds light on Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s hints regarding ‘The Complete Conquest’ of Israel in August 2022 and 2023.

Fox News reported that according to a MEMRI translation from Khamenei’s propaganda outlet, Kayhan, the plan of mass murder was engineered by the late Iranian global terrorist Qassem Soleimani in 2020. The U.S. military assassinated Soleimani in early January 2020 for his overseeing the killing of over 600 American military personnel.

Kayhan wrote, according to the translation, that in August 2023, “The significance is that, last year, the Leader [Khamenei] gave ‘the promise of the imminent conquest,’ and this year he gave ‘the announcement of the complete conquest,’ and Operation Al-Aqsa Flood is part of this imminent conquest. This promise and announcement, along with the clarity and power of [Khamenei’s] statements and positions in his meeting [with leaders and ambassadors of Islamic countries] on the occasion of the Prophet [Muhammad’s] birthday, have profound significance and content.”

MEMRI’s staff of Persian and Arabic language experts scour the media in the Muslim world for trends and indications of possible terrorist attacks. The president and founder of MEMRI, Yigal Carmon, is a retired Israel Defense Forces colonel who served as a counterterrorism adviser to two Israeli prime ministers. Fox News Digital reported last week that Carmon predicted the outbreak of the war in an Aug. 31 article titled “Signs of Possible War in September-October.”

In the preamble to its  infamous 1998 Hamas Covenant, the Islamist terrorist movement laid out its principal goal: “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.”

Hamas declares in article 7 of its manifesto, “The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight Jews and kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will cry out: ‘O Muslim, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him.’”

A prescient MEMRI article from May 2018,  headlined its article: “The ‘Great Return March’ Campaign: An Initiative Sponsored By Hamas, Whose Goal Was To Breach The Border Fence, Penetrate Israeli Territory.” 

MEMRI wrote at the time, “An examination of statements coming out of Gaza about the ‘Great Return March’ campaign, by Hamas officials, by campaign organizers, and by participants and supporters of the campaign, reveal that it was not merely a popular civilian campaign but was fully supported by Hamas, and that its goal was to breach the border fence in order to penetrate Israeli territory and march on Israeli communities.”

The MEMRI investigation added “Reports mentioned that special units had been established for the purpose of penetrating Israeli territory, such as the Fence-Cutting Unit and the Border-Storming Unit. Although the campaign organizers stressed that the marches would be peaceful, some Gazan social media users called to fight the ‘infidels’ in these communities and to murder them.”

A deadly Act 2 of the Hamas’s so-called “Great Return March” to conquer Israel would unfold five years later in the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

Numerous Fox News Digital press queries to Iran’s Foreign Ministry and U.N. mission were not answered.

Fox News.