Persian Security and Defense Review

[Iran (Dax)]

[[NOTE: This is not a typical Defense Ministry thread. This will be much more akin to the Turkish Security and Defense Review from last round.]]

The Persian Defense Review is a state-owned journal published by the Iranian Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, in conjunction with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the VEJA (an intelligence branch independent of the Ministry of Defense, similar to the CIA or other such intelligence services.) The PSDR publishes articles, assessments, analysis, and news regarding security and defense matters in Iran and the wider region, as well as external geopolitical shifts and trends which affect the region, directly or indirectly. Most articles are classified as sensitive by the government*, though the Ministry of Defense regularly publishes information for the public domain on defense capabilities and procurement.

*All posts in this thread are to be considered SIC unless otherwise noted with "VISC" or "IC" at the top of the post.

[Iran (Dax)]

Operation Shamshir

Date: 16 January 2015 to undisclosed

Location: Manama, Bahrain; Al-Muharraq, Bahrain

Type of Mission and Classification: Special Operations; Top-Secret Classified

Units Involved and Strength: 140 operatives of the Arabian Peninsula Quds Force; select agents armed with small arms and other non-military grade weapons

Mission Synopsis: Posing as religious leaders, businessmen, merchants, tourists, and professionals such as doctors, lawyers, and financiers, operatives are to instigate, inspire, and encourage continued opposition activists to rebel against the regime of King Hamad al-Khalifa. Agents are to keep their connection to the Iranian government a strict secret, including denying all links to Tehran officially and unofficially. Meanwhile, agents are to foment continued unrest while seeking out extremists and native Bahraini revolutionaries to arm, train, and guide in leading a bona fide uprising against the Bahraini royal family with the ultimate goal of ideally overthrowing the monarchy. Failing that, concessions from Al-Khalifa, including higher representation of Shi'a clerics and leaders, as well as the removal of the USN Fifth Fleet, are desirable.

Key People:
Hossein Amir Abdollahyan - Iranian security attache with Tehran's ambassador to Manama and covert Revolutionary Guards commander; will oversee the core of the operations, with Quds agents reporting directly - and solely - to him.
Jamshid Rahimi - Iranian Merchant Trader and covert Quds Force sleeper cell agent; will be responsible for ferrying small arms, easily concealable weapons, propaganda material, and dual-use items for the making of easily-constructed explosives such as IEDs, crude bombs, molotov cocktails, etc; responsible for distribution of materials to various agents in Bahrain under strict confidence.

[Iran (Dax)]

Operation Shamshir II

Date: 15 March 2015 to undisclosed

Location: Manama, Bahrain; Qalif City, Dannam, Khafji, and Hafar al-Batin, Saudi Arabia

Type of Mission and Classification: Special Operations; Top-Secret Classified

Units Involved and Strength: 25 operatives of the Arabian Peninsula Quds Force sleeper cells; unknown number of recruited militants, primarily from the Shi'a militant group Hezbollah Al-Hejaz. Estimated to include approximately 200 fighters.

Mission Synopsis: Quds force operatives are to step up efforts to funnel explosive-making materials to indigenous Saudi and Bahraini extremist groups via Kuwait, in particular Hezbollah Al-Hejaz, which operates in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Kuwait. The object is to unleash a wave of terrorist attacks, especially suicide attacks, roadside bomb attacks, and other anti-personnel explosions to target Saudi Arabian troops in Bahrain. The Saudi military has never undertaken an occupation of another country, and has not fought a direct war in its entire history. Saudi troops are thought to be poorly conditioned for such reprisals.

Additionally, attacks are to focus additionally on restive, Shi'a dominated areas of Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province.