“Iran says it postponed plan to send human to space,” Iran International, 1-7-25.

This, of course, is a blog about Iran and its Regime’s drive to be a revolutionary force, not a normal country.  This news story below is from Israel, and how Iran’s targeting it since 1979 may now be reversable, not in regime change, but in targeting the weapons that Iran uses.  How will respond?  Like a normal country?  See “Trump’s return creates opportunity to remove Iran threat, says blue-ribbon committee,” Times of Israel, 1-7-25.

“UN says Iran executed over 900 people in 2024, including dozens of women,” Reuters, 1-7-25.

“Iran Pulls Most Forces From Syria, in Blow to Tehran’s Regional Ambitions,” WSJ, 1-7-25.  Quote of the Day:  “Rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa has said his forces’ swift defeat of Assad has “set the Iranian project in the region back by 40 years.””  The introduction reads, “Iranian forces have largely withdrawn from Syria following the Assad regime’s December collapse, according to U.S., European and Arab officials, in a significant blow to Tehran’s strategy for projecting power in the Middle East. The Iranian withdrawal marks the demise of a yearslong effort in which Tehran used Syria as a hub in its broader regional strategy of partnering with regimes and allied militias to spread influence and wage proxy war against the U.S. and Israel. Iranian-backed armed groups in Syria have launched attacks on U.S. forces and aided in attacks on Israel. Members of Iran’s elite Quds Force have now fled to Iran and the militia groups have disbanded, a senior U.S. official said. The Islamic Republic spent billions of dollars and sent thousands of military personnel and allied fighters to Syria after the Arab Spring uprising in 2011, to prop up the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Syria was Iran’s main state ally in the Middle East and a critical land bridge to Hezbollah—the most powerful militia in Tehran’s self-labeled “axis of resistance” alliance. Iran, already reeling from Israeli airstrikes on its assets and partners in the region, began withdrawing personnel during the dramatic 11-day collapse of the Assad regime’s military late last year. When rebels in Syria launched an offensive in November, Iran’s government was already frustrated with Assad, who had remained on the sidelines over the prior year during Tehran’s multifront conflict with Israel. Iran’s network in Syria once spanned the length of the country, from the east where the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps helped transport weapons and fighters into the country, to Syria’s border with Lebanon, where it helped arm Hezbollah with weapons shipments.”