The massive fleet of U.S. Navy warships continue to engage provocatively in the Persian Gulf, just south of Iran, while the U.S. media present Iranian patrols as deliberate threats.
The Persian Gulf has been the focal point of grandstanding militarism in recent months, as U.S.-led sanctions aimed at crippling Iran’s oil and banking sectors have pushed the Iranians to threaten to close the Straits of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world’s oil export passes.
However, a recent report from the Congressional Research Service concluded such a move is a “a low probability event” given Iran’s profoundly inferior military and naval capacity and the fact that Iran relies heavily on the Strait for it’s own exports and economic well-being.
The threat was mainly a response to U.S. aggression and militarism, which is rarely addressed in the domestic news media. But onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Gulf’s Strait of Hormuz, BBC reporter Jonathan Beale explained, “This carrier and these [fighter] jets are more than just a show of force, they’re here to send a clear message to Iran as to who really controls these waters.”
Similarly, Rear Admiral Roy Shoemaker admitted to the BBC, “The presence of this ship is provocative.”
Meanwhile, U.S. reports purport to show Iranian provocations. “Iranian patrol boats and aircraft,” reports the Washington Times, “shadowed a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group as it passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday.” But U.S. officers explained this was routine, even as helicopters flying above the aircraft carrier warded off any approaching Iranian boats, which are miniature compared to the U.S. warships.
A Washington Post story on the incident explained that some of these so-called clashes in the Gulf actually involved boats containing smugglers, and not Iranian navy patrol boats.
These tensions in the Persian Gulf and the harsh U.S.-led sanctions on Iran are due to Iranian noncompliance with U.S. demands to halt all uranium enrichment, despite it being Iran’s right to do so under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The Obama administration, the U.S. military, and the U.S. intelligence community are all in agreement that Iran’s nuclear program is so far civilian in nature.
A U.S. Army soldier died in the Kingdom of Bahrain, Saturday, February, 11 supporting, "Operation Enduring Freedom", according to a DOD press release released today, February, 14.
sure its ok for us to sail our huge ships right into their coastal waters and conduct live fire drill so close to their shores that the shrapnel from our bombs lands on their beaches…….
but i would like to see iran so much as float a paper boat into the hudson without getting it blown out of the water by a tomahawk
Ha! So true. The hypocrisy is so thick you could cut it with a….. tomahawk.
I read a report that iran on one occasion placed an iranian magnetic seal on the bottom of one of our aircraft carriers in the persian gulf. I would not be so quick to state that the iranians are not in control of those waters.
That was probably the report that came from Haaretz, an Israeli paper. The report said that an Iranian Special Forces group left their company logo scrawled on the side of a US warship in Bahrain. We can only presume they were doing a military frat joke on an opposing military fraternity. If only we could keep it to tagging and paintball fights.
due to Iranian noncompliance […] to halt all uranium enrichment Small point: 'due to' seems untestable. Say they halt tomorrow. What will the outward rationale turn into then?
The problem here is it is impossible to prove the NEGATIVE that the US wants.
Prove you have stopped, the IAEA says there is NO illegal transfer of such material now, the body that is in charge of the Nuclear program for the United Nations say categorically they have not transfered material.
Iran says now that there is no such program, they are not believed because the US is saying prove it and it is exeedingly difficult to prove you are not doing something. Its like trying to prove that someone doesnt have pure thoughts when they keep their mouth shut! Prove that a person is NOT thinking an impure thought, Its impossible he might be but then he could be thinking about tonights dinner!
Choir here. …For a while I've had this idea for an illustration of the prove-a-negative (or just shift-the-burden-of-proof) tactic. Cop speaks to a HS class, picks out the geek in front. Sez: "I think you've got a bag of heroine in you." He convinces the geek he's obliged to prove him wrong. Dozens of agonizing surgeries later, the cop is still unimpressed. So the geek asks him what he could do. "Step in this blender," the cop answers. Well, it takes a few hours on Frappe (haven't owned one for a while, is that the highest setting?), but the cop finally gets a perfectly homogenous five gallons or so of whole geek. He sends it off to the lab–where one milliliter is sampled and it tests at less than 3 ppm heroine.
So he's cleared.
And quite relieved, I'd imagine.
But the key is who is convinced that the burden of proof is really on the accused. Iran isn't: they aren't stupid. It's clear enough who is. I suppose the goal is 'reaching' them; are we?
The Iranians responded by floating a life preserver holding an IED in the Strait of Hormuz as a reminder the locals aren't to be underestimated– as the US Army and Marine Corps have already discovered.
How would the US like Russia to have their military ships in the gulf? Enough of American hegemony, and terror. What is most interesting is that the US has no idea what Iran has in store for them, and the kinds of weapons that China, and Russia have provided Iran. If there is a war it will be unlike any war the US has ever faced period.
Show of force? Damn straight. A belligerent force of warmongering psychos. If the US were encircled by Russians or Chinese for the past ten years, and had warships steaming around off of our coasts, do you think the people in this country would NOT think their intentions were "hostile"? You'd have to be a fool to believe otherwise.
Historically the United States of America, has invaded Iran when it was NUETRAL in WWII, it has through the offices of the CIA overthrown its Democratically elected Government installed a Dictatorship that disapearred its opposition. It has shot down a civilian Airliner and then gave the Captain of the ship a medal. Now all this before Iran alledgedly is supposed to be trying to build Nuclear Weapons which even every US repeat EVERY US INtelligence agency say they are not doing as are the IAEA who say not ONE microgram of Nuclear material is being transferred from the civilian Nuclear Program which they are legally allowed to do. In fact the WHOLE of the evidence for the so called Iranian nuclear weapon program comes from an old laptop provided to the IAEA, by an anonomous western intelligence agency, thought to be the Israelies who ironically refuse to allow the IAEA to inspect their Nuclear Weapon Program and are the ONLY country EVER to sell Nuclear weapons to another country South Africa. Talk about Hypocracy!
So does Iran have a right to be a little Paranoid about the US sailing US Carriers 12 miles from thier shores. Of course they do, and wouldnt Americans be mouthy if Russia had have done such things during the cold war, YOU BETCHA. Who is Provoking whom?
Totally backward. The US fleet is only doing its duty and being where it's supposed to be. Iran is the one provoking stuff. Who told them to name that gulf 'Persian'?
Them's fightin' words. But America remains patient.
Just remember that when the gloves have to come off.
this is a perfect example of my comment below….
must be good stuff you are on
I'll humor you. Who told the Irish to name it the Irish sea? Who told the Japanese to name it The Sea of Japan? Who told the Mexicans to call it the Gulf of Mexico?
Germans thought Hitler was 'patient' with Poland. If he'd won, they'd have been right.
we are a nation of hypocrites and warmongers. 30 years of constant rambo, ahnold, and other "america saves the world by killing everybody" movies has branded ignorance into our psyche
Of course they're provocative. The US wants a war with Iran as it did Iraq and Libya. It needs a war to continue building its empire and that involves making "black gold",oil, the commodity that backs the dollar. If they don't get a war with Iran, or Iran succumbs to it's dictates which won't happen, America will have hyper inflation and economically sink into the sea. The Zionist influence in DC is pushing it to, just as the Zionist use America to fight their battles. Iran is making inroads into selling their oil around America's push for dollars for oil and this can't happen. The stage is set for WW111 or Armaggedon if you want to call it that. Russia and China will have to back Iran or acquiesce to the powers that be in America. They know the game that's being played out and are forced into a decision. Read John 3:16. Your future depends on it.
So why is the USA doing this to Iran??? …Answer, for ISRAEL! Remember ALL WARS LEAD TO ISRAEL.
The most recent article seemed to indicate that the carrier group was heading out of the Gulf. Do we know how often the carriers make the transit? Luckily the Iranian Navy does talk to our Navy and that should keep any stupid moves or misunderstandings to near zero. Everything else is Kabuki Theater. In reality we probably don't need the carriers in the area. Iraq is done and Afghanistan is winding down. The Captain of that Carrier uses the provocative about their presence, so hopefully he will keep the peace.