Iran Schedules Naval Drills in Hormuz for Regional Security

Local Editor

Iranian defense minister said that the country’s armed forces will stage naval war games in the Strait of Hormuz in order to maintain the security in the region, state-run Mehr news agency reported.

“Since the Islamic Republic of Iran is the most important provider of security in the region, the aim of the war games to be held by Iranian armed forces in the Strait of Hormuz is to increase military preparedness and maintain the security of the region,” Iranian media outlets quoted Navy commander Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi on Wednesday.

Moreover, Vahidi added the maneuvers will be carried out to test new military systems and practice new military tactics.
On Monday, rear admiral Ali Fadavi, the commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, announced that naval forces of the IRGC plan to hold war games in the Strait of Hormuz by the end of the current Iranian calendar year, which ends on March 21, 2013.

IRGC forces practiced their ability to block the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important oil shipping waterway, during a naval exercise conducted in January in the Persian Gulf.
Vahidi also announced that the project to manufacture new domestically designed submarines to be delivered to the IRGC is well underway.

However, the Iranian military officials said that the country’s armed forces may consider blocking the strategic waterway if Iran encounters any military threats.

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Iran will never submit to ZOG pressure

Posted on July 10, 2012 |

“Let’s start sledgehammer style. Iran won’t crack. Iran won’t crack. Iran won’t crack,” Pepe Escobar in Asia Times, July 7, 2012.

“If we could sit down with Stalin and Mao, why are the Ayatollah or Ahmadinejad so far beyond the pale? Can we just not handle that?,” Patrick J. Buchanan, July 5, 2012.

“United States’ economy is too weak for war against Iran,” Donald Beyer, US ambassador to Switzerland.

Iranian Majlis (parliament) is about to pass a bill, demanding the government not to disallow oil tankers destined for countries joining USrael boycott of Iran through the Strait of Hormuz. In 2011, 17 million barrels of oil sailed daily through the Strait of Hormuz. In other words, roughly 35% of all seaborne traded oil, or almost 20% of oil traded world-wide. Almost 16 million barrels of it was destined for Europe which shows USrael doesn’t give a damn to the interests of its European allies.

Iran, though a signatory to 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), has a legal right to block ships from entering its territorial waters if Tehran believes the passage of the ships bound for certain countries will harms peace, good order or security of the Islamic Republic. In fact, Tehran doesn’t need to block the Strait of Hormuz and give the US an excuse to attack Iran. Tehran could simply delay the passage of tankers destined to the ‘unfriendly countries’ by exercising its right to inspect every oil-tanker that passes through the Strait of Hormuz. The inspections and subsequent delays would maintain or contribute to higher oil prices. While higher oil prices would benefit Iran and other oil-producing countries, they would further destabilize the European economy which is already in crisis.

Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich, a public diplomacy scholar, researcher and blogger, writes: “The leaders of Western European countries are beholden to special interest groups – the pro-Israel lobbies, as the United States is, and they believe Iran will not call their bluff by ratifying the bill passed by Majlis and their oil will be delivered unhindered; perhaps both. Either way, they are committing financial suicide and their demise may well come before Iran’s resolve is shaken. “

Professor Paul Rogers (Bradford University, UK) believes that Israel cannot win a war against Iran alone and that the US would have to do the dirty job for Israel in 2013, if Mitt Romney becomes US President and the Republicans control at least on house of Congress. He says that the anti-Iran politicians assume that the Iranians will readily give up in face of such great force. The assumption is nothing but a self-denial mentality - which is based on the myth that United States won war in Afghanistan in the end of 2001 and in Iraq by May 2003. The reality is that Iraq after more than eight years under American occupation – has a very pro-Iran government in Baghdad and these wars have turned Iran into most powerful country in the region.

The Zionist regime with 240-400 nuclear bombs of its own – projects Iran’s nuclear program as an “existential threat” to divert world attention from its colonial policies. The Zionist regime sees the Islamic Republic as a competitor and blockage to its desire to dominate the Muslim East. An economically secure Iran with a reliable source of nuclear fuel to power its industries in the future which is also viewed as being technologically advanced would – in Israeli eyes – be a threat to Israel’s ambitions for regional domination. It would also pose a risk that the US would start to get along with Iran – in which case, who needs Israel. So the Israelis have been raising a hue and cry about how “threatened” they are by Iran’s non-existent nukes, playing the victim as usual while pushing for a war between the US and Iran.

Various polls taken in Iran indicate that a vast majority of Iranians want their government to continue Iran’s nuclear program against all odds. A small minority even believes that Iran must produce a nuclear bomb as ‘deterrent’ against foreign bullies.

The 110 members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and even American allies Turkey and Brazil, support Iran’s rights to continue its civilian nuclear program.

A recent poll conducted among 12 Arab nation-states by Doha-based Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies showed that 73% of respondents believed that Israel and the US were the two countries presenting the largest threat to the security of the Arab world, with 51 percent believing that Israel is the most threatening, 22 percent believe the US is the most threatening, and 5 percent reported a belief that Iran is the single country most threatening to the security of their countries.

A poll taken by Israel’s Dahaf Institute and released by Washington-based Zionist think tank, Brookings Institution, in March 2012 showed that only one in five Israelis favor Israel going war with Iran alone.
And finally, some truth from an Israeli war-journalist, Anthony Bubalo, published in Israeli daily Ha’aretz (March 17, 2012).

“If sanctions don’t work, does anyone believes Obama would start a war with Iran, when he has spent his first term in getting US forces out of Iraq and Afghanistan? Netanyahu has said a lot about Iran. But history shows that when Israel has threatened to bomb something so many times without actually doing it. Usually, when Israel sees a threat and sees it has the military means to deal with it it does so“.

Dr. Ahmadinejad is to retire from politics next year and return to his old academic field. The next president will have no power to decide to roll-back country’s nuclear program or wage an aggressive war against US-proxies in the region or the Zionist entity. Under Iranian Constitution, only country’s Supreme Leader (Ayatullah Ali Khamenie) is powered to make those decisions.

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Will Iran and the West Really Go to War?

A helicopter from the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) hovers over an Iranian patrol ship during a transit through the Strait of Hormuz. (photo by REUTERS/Jumana El Heloueh)

By:Habib Fayad posted on Friday, Jul 6, 2012

A new round of tension is expected to erupt between Iran and the West. European sanctions on Iran's oil sector are reaching their peak, burdening the Islamic Republic and pushing its economy toward unprecedented challenges. Iran now faces the challenge of responding and moving from threats to actions. For their part, the West is betting that Tehran will comply with the rules of the game without resorting to any unusual escalatory actions. Indeed, all of the crises across the Middle East are moving to the rhythm of the nuclear disputes between Iran and the West.

About this Article

Summary: Sanctions against Iran are reaching a painful apex as Iran exhausts its remaining loopholes, writes Habib Fayad. But despite war-like rumblings from both Washington and Tehran, it is unlikely that direct conflicy will erupt soon, though you wouldn’t know by the looks of it — the US has ships in the Strait of Hormuz and Iran is conducting war games. Publisher: As-Safir (Lebanon) Original Title: West's Sanctions and Iran's Options Author: Habib Fayad Published on: Friday, Jul 6, 2012 Translated On: Friday, Jul 6, 2012 Translator: Sami-Joe Abboud Categories : Iran Security Analysis & Opinion Politics

Neither of the two parties is willing to back down. At the same time, neither of them wants to escalate the situation. However it is unlikely that the status quo will be maintained. First, the European sanctions have reached a level that the Iranians are not expected to tolerate. Second, Tehran is moving forward with its nuclear program and the West's patience in this regard is wearing thin. Pre-war options are running out, but there are not enough factors that can lead to the eruption of a war that both sides are trying to avoid.
Despite the precariousness of the situation, the unprecedented presence of US military forces in Gulf waters does not necessarily mean that Washington is ready for a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities. Meanwhile, the large-scale military maneuvers conducted by the Revolutionary Guard Corps do not necessarily express Tehran's intention to head toward a military escalation. These maneuvers do not even indicate that Tehran will soon close the Strait of Hormuz. Such a step would practically signal the start of a military confrontation, which Iran will not resort to unless it is the target of [Western] military aggression or if it was prevented from exporting its oil. In the context of this difficult situation, the question is, what are Iran’s possible responses to the Western sanctions, which have been described by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the most severe sanctions a country could ever face?

Iran does not appear likely to swiftly or decisively respond to the Western sanctions. But in the coming period, it will take measures that are primarily designed to circumnavigate the sanctions, reduce their effects, and, consequently, inflict as much harm as possible upon Western policies and interests in the region. The following are some of the measures that Tehran can take:

- Freeze negotiations with the West, stop all forms of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), continue to enrich uranium and possibly abandon the additional protocol that deals with the convention on nuclear proliferation.

- Secure markets outside of Europe for Iranian oil and use their financial reserves ($120 billion) that was saved from the high oil profits to compensate for the expected losses in oil revenue.
- Raise the level of coordination with Moscow and other international actors as a precursor to establishing a new regional order, aimed at reducing US influence in the region.

- Rigorously support the Syrian regime and work to besiege US interests in Iraq, while opening up to the Taliban and encouraging it to intensify its military operations against NATO forces in Afghanistan.
- Activate the Iranian military presence in the Strait of Hormuz and control its traffic without going as far as completely closing it, while being fully prepared to deal with any US provocation militarily.

Iran and the West are expected to move toward further escalation, but no war is likely to break out. Nonetheless, this does not mean that the current situation between the two sides is heading toward a heated confrontation.

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Iranian Commander: Plan to Close Hormuz Strait Ready

Local Editor

As he stresses that a plan to close Hormuz strait was ready, Iranian commander says the Islamic Republic won’t close the maritime passage unless its interests are threatened.

Major General Seyed Hassan Firuzabadi reiterated that Iran did have the plan to shut down the strategic Strait but would only execute it if the nation’s security was threatened.

“We do have the plan to close the Strait of Hormuz since a member of the military must plan for all scenarios,” Major General Seyed Hassan Firuzabadi said Friday night on the sidelines of the Conference on the Doctrine of Mahdism, Mehr News Agency reported.

“However,” he added, the Iranian nation” acts reasonably and would not approve of the interruption of a waterway through which 40 percent of the world’s energy supply passes, unless our interests are seriously threatened.”
General Firuzabadi further stated that “our control over the Hormuz Strait remains smart and reasonable.”

Talking about the situation in Syria, the Iranian commander said the outcome of the current developments in the Arab country would turn out “very good, and the Syrian nation will succeed.”
He insisted that Syria would remain at the forefront of resisting the Israeli regime, noting that “the Syrian nation, its new parliament and [President] Bashar al-Assad are well aware of this.”

Source: Agencies	07-07-2012 - 14:56 Last updated 07-07-2012 - 14:56

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Gen. McCaffrey 'privately' briefs NBC execs on war with Iran!

Via FLC

Via Salon, basically McCaffrey is saying the Israelis cannot do Iran conventionally so they will resort to nukes. For a glimpse into the General's world, the Times' David Barstow wrote: "Many retired officers hold a perch in the world of military contracting, but General McCaffrey is among a select few who also command platforms in the news media and as government advisers on military matters. These overlapping roles offer them an array of opportunities to advance policy goals as well as business objectives. But with their business ties left undisclosed, it can be difficult for policy makers and the public to fully understand their interests. On NBC and in other public forums, General McCaffrey has consistently advocated wartime policies and spending priorities that are in line with his corporate interests..."

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War of Nerves

By JOHN CHERIAN frontline.in, February 2012 The West, along with "Israel", is racheting up threats of an attack, but Iran appears unfazed. REPORTS appear every other day in the Western media about an imminent "Israeli" strike against Iran. The Barack Obama administration keeps on repeating that "all options are on the table" against Iran. The United States armed forces have begun their biggest amphibious landing drill in the Persian Gulf region in more than a decade. The Pentagon recently doubled the number of aircraft carriers in the region. U.S. military and spy drones have been flying over Iran for some time now. Late last year, Iranians brought down a sophisticated U.S. drone. The "Israeli" media are full of stories about the build-up of American troops in two small Gulf islands near the Strait of Hormuz. "Israeli" "Defense" Minister Ehud Barak, one of the architects of the massacre in Gaza three years ago, said in early February that "the window" for an effective military strike on Iran was rapidly closing because of the continuing development of uranium enrichment centrifuges by that country. "Israeli" Vice Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon declared that his country was confident of hitting any facility in Iran it chose to, saying that he was speaking from his experience as a former head of the "Israeli" armed forces. French President Nicolas Sarkozy added his belligerent voice to the war discourse by saying that an attack on Iran would be justified if the country "continues its senseless race to get the bomb and threaten its neighbors". Sarkozy seems to have conveniently forgotten that in the modern era, Iran never started a war. It has always been a victim of aggression. It was the West and the Arab monarchies that encouraged Saddam Hussein to attack Iran in 1980, leading to the eight-year war, which led to the loss of more than a million Iranian lives. Teheran appears to be unfazed by the ratcheting up of threats from the West. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaking on the occasion of the 33rd anniversary of the Iranian revolution, said that the Islamic Republic would soon announce some "very important" achievements in the nuclear field. The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also reiterated that Iran would never give up its "rights" to a peaceful nuclear program. Iran has been consistently stating that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) it has every right to pursue a peaceful nuclear program. All of Iran's nuclear facilities, including those engaged in uranium enrichment, are monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to ensure that weapons-grade uranium is not produced. Khamenei warned the West against undertaking a military adventure, saying that if hostilities broke out, "it would be 10 times deadlier for the Americans" than it would be for Iran. Reacting to threats from "Israel", he said the country was a "cancerous tumor" in the region, which had to be removed. U.S. Secretary of "Defense" Leon Panetta told the media in Brussels in early February that there was a strong likelihood of "Israel" attacking Iran by the middle of the year. On December 20, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey told CNN that a whole range of options were being examined for military action against Iran. "I am satisfied that the options that we are developing are evolving to a point that they would be executable if necessary," he said. The right-wing government in "Israel" would like nothing better than precipitating a war with Iran. The hawkish government in "Israel" has coldly concluded that the Obama administration, readying itself for re-election later in the year, will have no other option but to finish the war that "Israel" wants to start. But the realists in the Obama administration know that Iran is not like neighboring Iraq, which they could occupy in a couple of weeks. President Obama, trying to tone down the talk of imminent war, said in the first week of February that the "Israelis" had not yet decided their course of action against Iran. He emphasized that the two countries would "work in lockstep, as we proceed to solve this, hopefully diplomatically". Meanwhile, the Republican contenders for the U.S. presidency, with the exception of Ron Paul, are carrying on with their refrain of "bomb, bomb Iran". On the nuclear issue, the Iranian people are united as never before. The neighboring Arab monarchies are no doubt tacitly supporting the psychological and economic warfare being currently waged by the West against Iran, but they realize that Iran too has many cards to play. The Shia populations in these countries are already restive and are demanding their democratic rights. Senior Iranian officials have warned that if war breaks out, the Iranian army will target the U.S. military bases littering the Gulf countries. If shipping is affected in the choke point of the Strait of Hormuz, global oil prices are bound to shoot through the roof. Even the American consumer could be left with a big hole in his pocket during an election year. This will be detrimental to Obama's chances of winning a second term. On a parallel track, the U.S. has been trying desperately to arm-twist traditional friends and trading partners of Iran, like India, to implement the unilateral sanctions imposed by the West. When India's Foreign Secretary, Ranjan Mathai, was in Washington recently for talks, the U.S. State Department spokesperson, Victoria Nuland, told reporters that "how India might find alternative sources of energy" was among the important issues discussed. She said that the U.S. was trying to implement a "two-track policy, both to encourage countries to wean themselves from Iranian oil, but also to work with suppliers around the world to help countries find alternative sources of energy". The Saudi Arabian government has promised to ramp up the production of oil in order to meet any shortfall in case Iranian oil is forced out of the international market. Iran has described the unilateral sanctions imposed by the West as part of the "psychological warfare" being waged against it. In the first week of February, the Obama administration gave more powers to U.S. banks to freeze Iranian assets and close loopholes that would make it even more difficult for the Iranian government to transfer funds through international banking channels. Iran's Vice-President, Mohammed Reza Rahimi, defiantly reacted to the latest set of sanctions by saying that Iran would make "the sanctions ineffective, as it has done in the past, and will continue selling oil". The sanctions, meanwhile, are beginning to affect the lives of ordinary Iranians. The Iranian rial has registered a steep decline against the dollar in recent months, leading to high inflation and rise in the prices of basic imported goods such as medicines. India is among Iran's biggest buyers of oil and gas. Senior Indian policymakers say that though the country's dependency on Iranian oil is decreasing, Iran will continue to be a major supplier. Twelve per cent of India's crude imports are from Iran. In January, India became the biggest importer of Iranian oil, displacing China. The announcement by the Indian government that it was planning to send a large trade delegation to Iran to strengthen economic ties has angered Washington. Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar told the media in Delhi that India was implementing the United Nations-mandated sanctions against Iran but emphasized that the sanctions did not apply "to a vast range of products India supplies to Iran". With Iran agreeing to payment in rupees and other unconventional methods like barter trading, Indian officials made it clear that India would not be pressured by the West into taking steps that would have an adverse impact on the national economy. For that matter, even Pakistan has struck a defiant note. Despite open warnings from the U.S., Pakistan has announced that the work on the gas pipeline with Iran will continue. Washington was more successful with New Delhi on the gas pipeline issue. Under pressure from the Bush administration, India had withdrawn from the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) project, saying that it was economically unfeasible and would give Islamabad undue leverage on the country's energy security. Under American pressure, many major private Indian companies such as Reliance suspended their contracts with Iran for the supply of refined gasoline. The Obama administration is naturally unhappy with India's decision to broaden economic ties with Iran at this juncture. U.S. Congressmen have started raising the issue. Senator Robert Menendez, a Democrat speaking at the confirmation hearing for the Obama administration's nominee for the Ambassador's post in New Delhi, Nancy J. Powell, said that India "seems to be rebuking the sanctions" imposed by the West on Iran. Senior Indian officials insist that they will continue dealing with Iran. They point out that until recently the West was urging India to cut economic ties with Myanmar in order to isolate the government there. Today, it is the West which is leading the charge to invest in that country. Indian officials predict that this situation will replicate itself in Iran within a couple of years.

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False Flag Alert Straights of Hormuz

False Flag Alert Straights of Hormuz

by Jonathon Blakeley

How to start a World War III with Iran in 3 easy steps. 1. Move The USS Enterprise scheduled to be decommissioned next year, with 8 nuclear reactors to the Straights of Hormuz. 2. Israel positions its Dolphin nuclear subs awaiting the USS Enterprise. 3. Sacrifice the Enterprise and all its crew and blame it on Iran to start World War III

 

Posted by Jonathon Blakeley on February 15, 2012. Filed under False Flag. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry                

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Iran Commander: US Can’t Bar Iran from Shutting Hormuz - Larijani: Iran to Avenge Scientist Assassination

Iran Commander: US Can’t Bar Iran from Shutting Hormuz

A senior Iranian commander has underscored the Islamic Republic's military might, saying that the US lacks the capability to hinder Iran's efforts to shut down the strategic Strait of Hormuz if Tehran deems it necessary to take the measure. “Regardless of their publicity campaigns and propaganda efforts, the Americans are incapable of confronting Iranian actions in a number of spheres, including the potential plan [by Iran] to shut down the Strait of Hormuz,” Deputy Chairman of Joint Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri said on Monday. The principal objective of Iran in the region is to defuse tensions, Jazayeri noted, adding that protecting and guaranteeing security in the Gulf are among the major defensive policies of the country. However, should the country's national interests come under threat, Iran's armed forces will utilize their defensive capabilities to defend the country's sovereignty, he said. In a Sunday address in Tehran, Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast also described the strategic Strait of Hormuz, linking the Sea of Oman to the Gulf, as a crucial waterway for the global economy. Mehmanparast emphasized that the strategic importance of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world's oil supply flows out, clearly explains why its security is of high priority for Iran. The senior diplomat insisted, however, that no foreign power should imagine that they can determine, for political ends, which states can and which ones can't benefit from Gulf resources. He added that Tehran spares no effort to maintain security in the Gulf.

US Sends Letter to Iran on Strait of Hormuz Closure

Local Editor

Iran announced Sunday it received a letter regarding its threatening to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz from the US, but stopped short on the content of the letter. “The US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, sent a letter to Mohammad Khazaie, Iran's UN representative, which was conveyed by the Swiss ambassador, and finally Iraqi President Jalal Talabani delivered its contents to Iranian officials,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said, according to IRNA. “We are in the process of studying the letter and if necessary we will respond.” On Friday, the New York Times, citing unnamed US officials, reported that Washington had used a secret channel to warn Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei that closing the narrow strategic waterway would cross a "red line" and provoke a response. The Strait of Hormuz became the focal point of the recent escalation of tensions between Washington and Tehran with Iran warning that imposing sanctions against the energy sector will prompt it to prevent oil cargoes from passing through the strategic Strait.

Iran to Avenge Scientist Assassination: Larijani

Local Editor

Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani vowed Monday that the Islamic Republic will avenge the assassination of its nuclear scientist Mustapha Ahmadi Roshan, and stated that several arrests were made over the crime. In an interview with the Iranian Arabic speaking news channel Al-Alam, Larijani said that “we have discovered some clues and some arrests have been made. Investigations are ongoing." "We will not hesitate in punishing the Zionist regime so that it realizes such actions have clear responses. There will definitely be a response,” he added, pointing out that the response would not be of a terrorist nature like this entity’s crimes.

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