FOX Reporting Iran Ships Sent to Gulf of Aden
Just to make it all even more fun, FOX News is reporting that Iran has sent 6 warships into international waters and the Gulf of Aden.
Iran has sent six warships into international waters in a move security experts are calling a "muscle flexing" show of defiance following missile tests last week.
"Iran has dispatched six ... warships to international waters and the Gulf of Aden region in a historically unprecedented move by the Iranian Navy," Iranian Adm. Habibollah Sayyari told a gathering of armed forces officials, Reuters reported.
Sayyari said the ships were moved to preserve Iran's territorial integrity in its southern waters, but foreign policy experts are calling it an aggressive move targeted at a Western audience as much as for regional powers like rival Saudi Arabia.
The deployment is "a signal of military strength, resolve and continued defiance to U.S. and U.N. Security Council efforts to end the impasse over Iran's nuclear program," said Jim Phillips, senior fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs at the Heritage Institute. "What's very important here is the timing of this move — and this naval muscle flexing comes after Iran's missile test earlier this week, which was saber rattling that was meant to send the same signal as this naval dispatch."
Phillips said Ahmadinejad was using the opportunity to thumb his nose at the U.S. and U.N. to advance his own popularity in Iran ahead of the country's hotly contested June 12 election.
Iran's naval access stretches along the Gulf of Aden, the Strait of Hormuz and the Sea of Oman. Iran has threatened to block the strait, through which about 40 percent of the world's traded oil is shipped, if it were attacked over its nuclear program. Nearly
20,000 ships pass through the Gulf of Aden each year, heading to and from the Suez Canal, Reuters noted. Seven percent of world oil consumption passed through the Gulf of Aden in 2007, according to Lloyd's Marine Intelligence Unit.
Ah... so this is "muscle flexing" and last week's missle tests were "saber rattling" and now the Evil Dwarf is "thumbing his nose". Thanks for clearing that up. So what are they going to call it if Ahmadhimmijerker decides to block the Strait of Hormuz, "bird flipping"?
UPDATE: Well, this just keeps getting better and better...
FOX is now reporting that the Evil Dwarf has challenged Teh One to a debate at the UN next month providing he, the ED, wins the upcoming Iranian election.
The NYPD is going to be so thrilled at this news...
-
U.S. carrier crosses Hormuz amid rising Gulf tensions (Reuters) - A U.S. aircraft carrier strike group sailed through the Strait of Hormuz Tuesday more than a month after Iran warned a different carrier -- USS John C. Stennis -- not to return to the Gulf...
-
Newsmax: Iran Navy Tests Surface-to-Air Missile in Drill TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's navy said Sunday it test-fired an advanced surface-to-air missile during a drill in international waters near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the passageway for one-sixth...
-
Emirates 24/7: Iran ready to close Strait of Hormuz: General By AFP Published Monday, July 04, 2011 Iran is ready if threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz to ships linking the Gulf to international markets, Revolutionary Guards commander General Mohammad...
-
Israel National News: Israel: Iranian Warships in Med are a 'Serious Provocation' by Gil Ronen Israel is "closely monitoring" Iranian plans to deploy warships in the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, Israeli security officials told...
- But Barack Will Talk Them Out Of It - New Iran Base To Block Persian Gulf In Case Of War
From Press TV, an Iranian New Service Iran's Navy Commander says the new naval base in the strategic port of Jask will be used to block the Strait of Hormuz in case of war. In a Tuesday interview, Chief Navy Commander Habibollah Sayyari...