Khamenei’s Advisor: We Must Be Ready for All Scenarios

Adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Rahim Safavi (Telegram) 
Adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Rahim Safavi (Telegram) 
TT
20

Khamenei’s Advisor: We Must Be Ready for All Scenarios

Adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Rahim Safavi (Telegram) 
Adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Rahim Safavi (Telegram) 

An adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Sunday said his country must be prepared for all potential scenarios and urged authorities not to allow enemy conspiracies to take them by surprise.

“Iran is fighting a hybrid war waged by its enemies,” said Rahim Safavi, a General of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). He highlighted the critical need for national unity in pursuing the country’s goals.

Safadi’s comments came after US President Donald Trump left last week the door open to striking Iran's nuclear facilities, but said he wants to reach a deal with Tehran to avoid military strikes.

Meanwhile, Safavi pointed out to the 20-year strategic agreement between Iran and Russia, signed last week during the visit of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to Moscow. He said the agreement requires not only careful planning but also decisive action to achieve its full potential.

“We must be ready for every possibility and ensure that we are never caught off guard by the enemy's plans,” he added.

Iran's main concern is the potential for Trump to reimposes his “maximum pressure policy” through more sanctions on its oil.

Last Wednesday, two US officials gave preliminary outlines of the new US administration’s policy toward Iran, including its readiness to activate the “snapback” mechanism at the UN Security Council.

Trump said Thursday he hoped to avoid military strikes on Iran's nuclear program, an option long mulled by Israel.

Asked if he would support military action against Iranian nuclear facilities, Trump told reporters he was going to speak to unspecified “very high-level people” about the issue.

“That could be worked out without having to worry about it,” Trump said of the Iranian nuclear issue.

“It would be really nice if that could be worked out without having to go that further step,” he said of military action.

On diplomatic prospects with Iran, Trump said, “Iran hopefully will make a deal -- and if they don't make a deal, I guess that's OK, too.”

Later during an interview with Fox News, the US President said, “I want them (the Iranians) to have a great country, they have great potential, the people are amazing -- The only thing I said about Iran, is they can't have a nuclear weapon.”

Trump added, “They cannot have a nuclear weapon. And, you know, they get one, you're gonna have everyone else getting them, and then the whole thing is going to be a disaster.”

Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Sunday hinted at potential action against Iran in the “upcoming months,” in his initial congratulatory letter to new US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

“Iran and its partners continue to threaten... regional and global stability,” wrote Katz.

“The upcoming months present us with challenges that require military readiness and opportunities that allow us to further our strategic goals. I am confident that together we can succeed, creating long-term stability and a better future for the region,” the Israeli minister said.

 

 

 

 



Rwanda-backed M23 Rebels Occupy 2nd Major City in Congo's East

A general view of pedestrians walking in a street in Bukavu on December 17, 2025. (Photo by Amani Alimasi / AFP)
A general view of pedestrians walking in a street in Bukavu on December 17, 2025. (Photo by Amani Alimasi / AFP)
TT
20

Rwanda-backed M23 Rebels Occupy 2nd Major City in Congo's East

A general view of pedestrians walking in a street in Bukavu on December 17, 2025. (Photo by Amani Alimasi / AFP)
A general view of pedestrians walking in a street in Bukavu on December 17, 2025. (Photo by Amani Alimasi / AFP)

Rwanda-backed rebels have occupied a second major city in mineral-rich eastern Congo, the government said Sunday, as M23 rebels confirmed they were in the city to restore order after it was abandoned by Congolese forces.
The Congo River Alliance, a coalition of rebel groups that includes the M23, said in a statement that its fighters “decided to assist the population of Bukavu” in addressing its security challenges under the “old regime” in the city of 1.3 million people, The Associated Press reported.
"Our forces have been working to restore the security for the people and their property, much to the satisfaction of the entire population,” alliance spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka said in a statement.
The rebels saw little resistance from government forces against the unprecedented expansion of their reach after years of fighting. Congo's government vowed to restore order in Bukavu but there was no sign of soldiers. Many were seen fleeing on Saturday alongside thousands of civilians.
The M23 are the most prominent of more than 100 armed groups vying for control of eastern Congo’s trillions of dollars in mineral wealth that's critical for much of the world's technology. The rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to the United Nations experts.
The fighting has displaced more than 6 million people in the region, creating the world's largest humanitarian crisis.
Bernard Maheshe Byamungu, one of the M23 leaders who has been sanctioned by the UN Security Council for rights abuses, stood in front of the South Kivu governor’s office in Bukavu and told residents they have been living in a “jungle."
“We are going to clean up the disorder left over from the old regime,” Byamungu said, as some in the small crowd of young men cheered the rebels on to “go all the way to Kinshasa," Congo's capital, nearly 1,000 miles away.
Congo's communications ministry in a statement on social media acknowledged for the first time that Bukavu had been “occupied” and said the national government was “doing everything possible to restore order and territorial integrity” in the region.
One Bukavu resident, Blaise Byamungu, said the rebels marched into the city that had been “abandoned by all the authorities and without any loyalist force."
“Is the government waiting for them to take over other towns to take action? It’s cowardice,” Byamungu added.
Unlike in 2012, when the M23 briefly seized Goma and withdrew after international pressure, analysts have said the rebels this time are eyeing political power.
The fighting in Congo has connections with a decadeslong ethnic conflict. The M23 says it is defending ethnic Tutsis in Congo. Rwanda has claimed the Tutsis are being persecuted by Hutus and former militias responsible for the 1994 genocide of 800,000 Tutsis and others in Rwanda. Many Hutus fled to Congo after the genocide and founded the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda militia group.
Rwanda says the militia group is “fully integrated” into the Congolese military, which denies it.
But the new face of the M23 in the region — Corneille Nangaa — is not Tutsi, giving the group “a new, more diverse, Congolese face, as M23 has always been seen as a Rwanda-backed armed group defending Tutsi minorities,” according to Christian Moleka, a political scientist at the Congolese think tank Dypol.
Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi, whose government on Saturday asserted that Bukavu remained under its control, has warned of the risk of a regional expansion of the conflict.
Congo's forces were being supported in Goma by troops from South Africa and in Bukavu by troops from Burundi. But Burundi's president, Evariste Ndayishimiye, appeared to suggest on social media his country would not retaliate in the fighting.
The conflict was high on the African Union summit's agenda in Ethiopia over the weekend, with UN Secretary-General António Guterres warning it risked spiraling into a regional conflagration.
Still, African leaders and the international community have been reluctant to take decisive action against M23 or Rwanda, which has one of Africa's most powerful militaries. Most continue to call for a ceasefire and a dialogue between Congo and the rebels.