The supreme leader

An excerpt of my thriller "The global threat".

At ten minutes to four pm all of the selected cabinet members were gathered at the supreme leader's office, except Qasem and General Mohammad Nahavandian the army chief of staff; as His Holy Highness instructed his secretary not to call them.  

The selected members sat together having a very tactful conversation without saying much taking care not to incriminate themselves, or provide their rivals God forbid some clues to blacken their faces behind their backs.

Fifteen minutes later when His Holy Highness was announced by his secretary and entered, they stood up and waited with due respect till their supreme leader will take his seat, and allow them to sit down again.

'You may sit down,' His Holy Highness declared briskly. He was already seated of course on his throne like comfortable seat.

We've had a top secret session last night with the Turkish Prime Minister Mr. Fidan and four of his aides, to conclude our agreement. Qasem and General Mohammad signed the agreement as the representatives of our state with my approval.' He coughed slightly and looked all over the grim faces of the selected cabinet members.

'Tonight the Turks will start the invasion, and with Allah's blessings we'll crush the terrorists and free Syria.' His Holy Highness added emphatically, as if he wished to convince himself in the offensive's success.

So "the die is cast" Rohanei thought worried, reminding himself Julius Caesar's quote when he crossed the river Rubicon with his legions. Do we really believe that we can outsmart the West and NATO and till when? He kept thinking but did not dare to express orally his doubts.

'Our efforts would be carried out in stages, to leave the impression that there's nothing in common between the Turkish army invasion and our efforts. I won't go down to details though I did approve Qasem and Mohammad's war plan they're the experts, but what I can tell you is the fact that our efforts directions and the Turks would be toward the western center. A corridor towards the southern/eastern border would be left, to let the terrorists' remnants to flee back to Iraq, and there we'll annihilate them with a mutual force of the Iraqi Shia regime and ours. These tactics would enable us to crush the terrorists within three weeks up to one month time.' His Holy Highness made another short pause to drink a few drops of water, and kept straight on.

'The meeting zone between our Al Quds braves and the Turkish army is about the Homs Palmira line, that's the estimation of the Turks. But we must take into account the possibility that the West will expose our plan, and the goals of our mutual offensive in about two weeks time; which means that the delegation led by our president and the foreign affairs minister should be ready to leave in the next two weeks.' He turned a quizzical look at Rohanei, and the latter hastened to nod his head in a sign of acquiescence.

'With the permission of Your Holy Highness I'd like to point out that we must take into account the possibility that the West would react aggressively, even before our delegation will land at the first European country.' It was Jahangiri and everyone round the table knew without the slightest doubt that it was prearranged question, which he was ordered to ask by His Holy Highness.

'During our last night meeting with the Turks, a meeting that lasted up to three am; I asked this question too, as such a possibility might occur; despite my own belief that the Western powers will seek a diplomatic solution, and do nothing in fact to hinder our efforts. Mr. Fidan with his vast experience as the head of the Turkish Intelligence agency, reassured us of what we too know very well; he reminded us the Western Powers mild reaction to the Crimea crisis in 2014 and the Russian invasion to Eastern Ukraine, and he said that the Western powers are much more weaker now; while President Putin is on our side, and he's the one that persuaded Erdogan to collaborate with us… So except convening the UN Security Council they'll do nothing at all, we're used to hear their empty threats since our first discussion with them on our nuclear development at 2003.' He added with a broad smile, and everyone including Rohanei burst out laughing.

'We'll move now to my prayer room to pray for our success, and then we'll have a light supper.' Kianoush summed the meeting and stood up ready to lead the selected cabinet members to his prayer room.

© Haim Kadman March 2014 �" all rights reserved.