DONALD Trump putting boots on the ground inside Iran could spark the final deathblow to the fanatical regime.
It comes after brave following the .
Protesters dancing and cheering around a bonfire during January’s protestsCredit: AP
A plume of smoke rises after a strike in Tehran, IranCredit: AP
Dozens of top brass have been wiped out since the US and Israel unleashed strikes three weeks ago, weakening the regime’s iron grip.
But Trump has been warned an uprising to decapitate it once and for all will only happen if a revolution is sparked within Iran.
Kurdish commander Babasheikh Hosseini gave the US president a chilling ultimatum as he said there will be no victory – unless his fighters are sent into the battlefield.
Before the latest war erupted, to shield his regime from demise.
And after the 12-day war last year, we reported how – despite the regime “hanging by a thread” – the and that it was ultimately in the hands of the population.
Now after three weeks of relentless blitzes depleting its resources and killing many of its most powerful players, the regime is on its heels.
Khamenei before he was blown to pieces in his presidential palace in Tehran.
His shadowy son Mojtaba, 56, succeeded him – but has never given a public speech and has stayed silent amid rumours he is already dead.
But Kenneth Katzman, who briefed US Congress for 31 years on Iran in his role as a Middle East Analyst, said the bloodthirsty mullahs will not yet fear being ousted.
He told The Sun: “Without a ground incursion the regime does not feel it is going to be toppled.
“It’s going to be defiant and as we’re seeing, it will try to keep the Strait closed.”
Hours after pulling the trigger on Operation Epic Fury, Trump called on Iranians to seize the opportunity to put the final nail in the regime’s coffin.
“This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their country,” he said.
Mojtaba took over after his father Ali Khamenei after his death – but has not been seen publiclyCredit: via REUTERS
Cars burn in a street during deadly protests in Iran in JanuaryCredit: Reuters
But Katzman warned without a ground offensive, it will be near-impossible that the regime – which started its barbaric reign after the Islamic Revolution in 1979 – will be overthrown.
It comes after widespread protests in January saw ruthless Khamenei order his revolutionary guards to show no mercy – resulting in thousands of deaths as the regime made its iron-grip rule known.
He added: “There is an assumption that the protesters will see the regime as so weakened that they might take it on by themselves.
“But it’s tough. I think he’s laying the predicate for that decision on ground troops at some point soon.
“Without a ground offensive, it is going to be tough to get a national uprising that’s going to overthrow the regime.
“If Trump has a ground offensive, even if it starts small, the regime is going to feel that the chances of it being toppled are quite real.
“And the people, who hate the regime, are going to feel that the regime is on the ropes and might revive their uprising.”
Trump has been mulling whether to send ground forces into Iran – and said he was “not afraid” to put American boots inside the rogue nation.
On Thursday, the president appeared to leave the door ajar as he told a reporter: “I’m not putting troops anywhere. If I were, I certainly wouldn’t tell you.”
Katzman suggested that it would not necessarily have to be a full-blown invasion to embolden Iran’s repressed population.
He said: “It could start very small, with drone operators sneaking in, being inserted in, special forces being inserted into Iran, operating drone capabilities, potentially helicopter capabilities and Apache helicopter capabilities.
“Setting up some sort of base that they can protect, which can be used as a staging point for air operations inside the country, on-demand air operations, not just air operations from other bases, but on-demand air operations.
“In other words, if a protest is going on and the Basij [a paramilitary volunteer militia within the IRGC] are on their motorcycles ready to crack down, you undertake a drone strike.
“That’s the type of thing I’m talking about. As you locate Basij units, you take them out.
“But then inevitably it could expand. That might not be enough. It really depends on what the population does.
Iran rebels defy internet blackout to reveal they are READY to topple regime
Exclusive by , Deputy Foreign Editor
BRAVE Iranian rebels have broken through the regime’s internet blackout to tell The Sun: “We are ready to finally take our country back”.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s grisly downfall that saw him wind up dead in a pile of rubble has left the rogue nation’s repressed public wanting more.
One defiant Iranian told me: “The endgame feels real in a way it hasn’t before.”
Donald Trump hailed the chief mullah’s pathetic demise after his compound was blitzed as “the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their country”.
In a rallying cry to Iran’s population, the US president urged them to seize the opportunity to put the final nail in the nation’s bloodthirsty regime.
Courageous Iranians – whose identities we have concealed to protect them – say they are waiting for their moment to finally topple the regime as Khamenei’s inner circle desperately tries to cling to power.
Internet blackouts have made it extremely difficult to communicate but, with limited VPN connection, they have managed to share accounts.
During January’s deadly protests, when ruthless Khamenei ordered his revolutionary guards to show no mercy, critics told me .
But now, two months on, the Supreme Leader is dead, and protesters are more certain than ever they could be on the brink of freedom.
One 27-year-old rebel living in Tehran told The Sun: “Many of us believed it was possible before, but those uprisings were never meant to be the final chapter by themselves.
“The regime survived by hiding behind proxies, money networks, and foreign lobbying.
“Now that mask is cracking and their hand is exposed, the endgame feels real in a way it hasn’t before.
“It’s a strange mix of relief and iron focus. People are glad to see operations striking terrorists – but the deeper feeling is impatience and readiness.
“Everyone is waiting for the moment it becomes our turn to reclaim Iran, and people talk about it out loud now. No more whispers.”
“It’s possible the population might see a few US Army units arrive outside a city and rise up, and it’s over and the regime is gone.”
Rather than mainland Iran, Trump could be poised to send special forces onto Kharg Island – as Tehran refuses to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Oil prices worldwide have skyrocketed this month as ships are blocked from using the crucial waterway.
Trump on Friday gave the green light for an offensive to reopen it – deploying Apache helicopters and low-flying jets to blitz Iranian ships.
But it could be the precursor to Trump signing off on a ground mission on the tiny island.
The president is considering a bold move to occupy or seal off Iran’s Kharg Island – which processes 90 per cent of the rogue state’s crude.
More than 2,500 US marines are closing in on the war zone as the defiant mullahs continue to ramp up global economic chaos by attacking their neighbours’ energy plants.
The Sun for the sign off on the “dangerous” mission – and cut off the murderous regime’s economic jugular once and for all.
“I modelled a scenario where Trump decides that to open up the Strait of Hormuz, he needs to have a ground incursion to seize the Iranian coast, or part of it,” Katzman said.
“It could start with Kharg Island, Bandar Abbas, Kish Island or other islands in the Gulf and then expand onto the Iranian mainland, which could spark an uprising at that point or the offensive could proceed and take additional Iranian territory.
“At that point the regime is going to feel itself vitally threatened and it could start to unravel.”
Jason Brodsky, policy director at UANI, warned, however, any sort of revolution would not happen overnight – and will be complicated.
“There would need to be a convergence of labour and political protests and mass defections among the armed forces and security services,” he told The Sun.
Trump's marines 'gearing up to storm Iran's island fortresses'
Exclusive by , Deputy Foreign Editor, and Martin Arostegui
PLANS have been drawn up for Donald Trump’s marines to storm Iran’s vital island fortresses to unlock the Strait of Hormuz, insiders told The Sun.
Despite being no more than flecks on the map, these tiny Tehran-controlled territories have outsized importance – pulling the strings on critical trade.
Seizing this series of strategically located islands would – the world’s most crucial chokepoint.
Cunning Tehran has threatened to bomb any ships that travel through the shipping lane since the war started – throttling 20 per cent of the world’s oil supply.
Coupled with the regime’s attacks on energy infrastructure in the Gulf, it has fuelled fears of a global energy crisis.
A handful of boats have managed to make the journey – often ones with closer links to Iran, including China and India.
It comes as – unless it wants its power plants “obliterated”.
The furious president last week deployed Apache helicopters and low-flying jets to blitz Iranian ships near the waterway.
But now a could be gearing up to take the Iranian bases dominating entrances to the key waterway.
B-2 strategic and Abu Musa and also launch sites dug into mainland coastal cliffs last week, dropping 5,000lb GBU-72 deep penetrator bombs.
In operations that usually precede ground assaults, low flying Apache helicopters and A-10 warthogs are now strafing IRGC fortifications, firing hellfire missiles and forward mounted 30mm chain cannons to eliminate any resistance.
CENTCOM commander admiral Brad Cooper said: “The aims to end Iran’s ability to project power and disrupt shipping in the straits of Hormuz.”
“We are not at that point yet. But when the dust settles, protests could erupt again as they did months after the 12-Day War last year.
“It’s a process of regime collapse and it doesn’t happen overnight.
“The weakness of the current regime could embolden the Iranian people, especially with the erosion of the internal security apparatus.”
It comes after despite surviving mullahs ordering a crackdown on the streets with armed patrols, arrests and violent checkpoints,
Sarina, 27, from Tehran told The Sun: “This regime knows their sole enemy is its population and their organised resistance.
“However, we are witnessing their collapse with our own eyes every single day, and we are very close to that moment.
“As soon as the bombings stop, we will undoubtedly return to the streets, and this time it will be the final uprising, we will finish them off.
“The people of Iran have been waiting for this opportunity and these days for a long time.
“Even under the harshest conditions, we showed our protest against this government through small acts in the streets.
“But now, our numbers have grown significantly. Freedom and democracy are the demands of all Iranians, and I have no doubt we will realise this dream soon.”
Before Khamenei’s barbaric 36-year rule, his predecessor Ruhollah Khomeini served as Iran’s first supreme leader after the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
In almost half a century of iron-fist ruling, Iranians have suffered economic hardship, repeated crackdowns – and untold bloodshed, including relentless executions of anyone who dared speak out against the regime.
Describing themselves as “walking shadows”, they live in fear – and now see a flicker of hope to finally be free from the shackles of the Islamic state.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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