– Destination Persian Gulf? US nuclear sub and destroyer enter Red Sea (RT, JAn. 31, 2012):
Two ships of the US Navy, the nuclear submarine USS Annapolis and the destroyer USS Momsen have passed through the Suez Canal into the Red Sea. Although their destination is confidential, they are now getting dangerously close to the Persian Gulf.
The ships’ passage was a major operation for the Suez administration as due to safety reasons they had to close off the canal to all other traffic and even shut down the bridge, disrupting the link between the banks for some four hours. The traffic on the roadways alongside the canal was also restricted, Interfax news agency reports.
There are no reports regarding the destination of the vessels, but the news come amid the ongoing crisis in the relationship between the US and Iran. There is mounting speculation that the Annapolis and the Momsen are heading to the Persian Gulf to reinforce the US naval forces already present in the region.
Currently the US has two aircraft carrier groups in the region headed by USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Carl Vinson. It is expected that another aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise, will join the strike force in March.
Since the EU placed a new round of sanctions on Iran by putting an embargo on Iranian oil, Iran is once again threatening to use military force to close the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, a Kuwaiti maritime official said on Monday that the Gulf Cooperation Council group of Arab countries have contingency plans for coastguards and naval forces should there be an attempt by Iran to shut down the Strait of Hormuz.
‘US imperial agenda is now concentrating on Iran’
Tehran has offered IAEA officials the chance to extend their mission and says it is ready to prove its atomic ambitions are peaceful. But Ralph S?hoenman, the host of radio program ‘Taking Aim,’ told RT that IAEA’s quest in Iran is hopeless.
“I say hopeless because the United States and the European capitalist spouse will always up the ante,” S?hoenman explained. “You can be absolutely sure that the reports back from one or more of these inspectors functioning as intelligence operatives will say: ‘Well, there is evidence that they may be doing this and they may be doing that.’”
S?hoenman believes that the US “imperial agenda, which makes countries their targets in sequence, is now concentrating on Iran.”
“The very idea that Iran is somehow obliged to open its frontiers to inspectors who are essentially penetrated and permeated by the Central Intelligence Agency and Mossad expresses what I am attempting to say to you,” he explained. “This is outrageous, this has no legitimacy and it should be repudiated and exposed for what it is.”
Journalist and author Afshin Rattansi says that there are no reasons why Iran would need another visit from such a biased organization as the IAEA.
“There are cameras, surveillance equipment over all the different sites,” he said. “The IAEA inspection regime, I think most analysts would say, is a front for a WMD [weapons of mass destruction] inspection that we have seen previously in that region.”
Flashback:
– George Galloway: The Case Against War With Iran (Must-Listen!!!):
‘Iran Hasn’t Invaded Another Country In More Than 300 Years.’
More on Iran:
– Pentagon Sends Commando ‘Mothership’ To Middle East
– EU Iran Oil Embargo Sanctions ‘Unprecedented’, Freezes Iranian Central Bank Assets
– Lawmaker: Closing Strait of Hormuz is Iran’s right
– US, Britain And France Send Warships Through Strait Of Hormuz
– EU Foreign Ministers Agree On Iranian Oil Embargo – Europe Is Shooting Itself In The Foot
– India Joins Asian Dollar Exclusion Zone, Will Transact With Iran In Rupees
– Satanist Takes Credit for Upcoming War With Iran (WW III)
– ‘Iran Signs Own Death Warrant’ (Veterans Today)
– CNN: US Funds Iran Nuclear Program (Video)
– Iran Is Not Our Enemy (Video)
– The Real Target … US Wants To ‘Close Down The Central Bank Of Iran’: Senior U.S. Official
– Iran, Russia Replace US Dollar With National Currencies In Trade Exchanges
– Defense Secretary Leon Panetta: Iran Not Building Nuclear Bombs Yet
– US Analysts: Iran’s Nuclear Fuel Rod Isn’t Military Threat (Bloomberg, Jan. 4, 2012)
– Thousands Of US Troops To Be Deployed In Israel, Joined By US Aircraft Carrier
– Obama And Netanayu Push For Attack On Iran (Video)
– American Investigative Journalist: CIA, Mossad Made Up Fairytale Terrorist Group Al-Qaeda
– Royal Navy Sends Its Mightiest Warship To Take On Iran
– Ron Paul: Sanctions Against Iran Are an ‘Act of War’:
Unwilling to back down from the growing criticism that his foreign policy would be “dangerous,” Ron Paul told voters in Iowa that western sanctions against Iran are “acts of war” that are likely to lead to an actual war.
Paul said that Iran would be justified in responding to sanctions by blocking the Straits of Hormuz, adding that the country blocking the strategically important strait is “so logical” since they have no other recourse.
He then compared the situation to China blocking off the Gulf of Mexico to trade.
– Interview With James Morris From ‘America-Hijacked.com’: Israel Pushing US Towards War With Iran
– ‘US Deploys Troops In Israel For Iran War’
– Rachel Maddow: Ron Paul Is The Only Presidential Candidate That Doesn’t Want To Start Another War!
Effectively, the measures will force companies and financial institutions throughout the world to choose between the United States and Iran as their business partner.
– Rick Santorum Wants To Bomb Iran’s Nuclear Facilities (= WW III) (NBC Video)
– CFR’s Foreign Affairs: ‘Time To Attack Iran’ (= WW III)
– Adrian Salbuchi: Imperial Overdrive: Red Alert Over Iran
– China To Protect Iran Even If It Means World War III
Flashback:
– Heads Of Mossad And Shin Bet May Have Leaked Plans For Attack On Iran, PM Netanyahu Orders An Investigation (Guardian, Nov. 3, 2011):
… the main suspects are the former heads of the Mossad and the Shin Bet, respectively Israel’s foreign and domestic intelligence agencies.Netanyahu is said to believe that the two, Meir Dagan and Yuval Diskin, wanted to torpedo plans being drawn up by him and Ehud Barak, the defence minister, to hit Iranian nuclear sites.
In January the recently retired Dagan, a hawk when he was running the Mossad, called an attack on Iran “the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard“.
“The stupidest idea I’ve ever heard“ = WW III: