Thursday, March 30, 2006
Iran to Conduct Massive War Games
Today, word came from Tehran that, starting tomorrow, Iran will be conducting massive armed war games in the gulf beginning tomorrow. The games are geared towards helping Iran “gain the necessary and needed readiness to decisively reply to any kind of threats." The games will include 17,000 soldiers and sailors, as well as a wide variety of fighter planes, helicopters, and missiles.
"The revolutionary guards corps navy and air force in collaboration with (Iran's regular) army, navy, (the volunteer militia) Basij, and the Iranian police will start a manoeuvre from 31 March until 6 April in the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman," said Rear-Admiral Mostifa Safari.
We are talking about a very volatile region, and the areas included in the war games border on Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates. I wonder how these groups feel about hearing last-minute about these war games. What’s more, Iran made very clear that a part of the war games would be the strait of Hormouz, which 80% of the Persian Gulf’s oil is shipped through.
The obvious thought is that these war games are designed to send a message to the West, that Iran is ready for any attacks that might come over their weapons program. But what if they have even loftier goals? They told the world about these games too late for the world to do anything, although I’m not sure there’s anything we could do. But certainly the thought of these war games in such a volative region makes me more than a little uneasy. How about you?
technorati tags: Tehran, Iran, Persian Gulf, War Games, Hormouz
Posted by Scottage at 7:11 PM /
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