Tehran Connects First Blow on Washington
January 15, 2012 2 Comments
by Luis R. Miranda
The Real Agenda
January 15, 2012
In what could be called the duel of words, Tehran has handed Washington and Tel Aviv the first blow in the stomach as both countries decided to postpone the military exercise scheduled to take place a couple of weeks from today.
Citing their intention not to further escalate the war of words between Tehran and the west, Israeli defense officials have publicly announced that their war games will not occur as planned. According to HAARETZ, the Israelis want to “avoid causing further tensions in the region after various foreign reports of U.S. and Israeli preparations for strike on Iran.”
The military exercise was considered the largest of a series of joint manuevers aimed to curb Iran’s military escalation in the Persian Gulf, more specifically in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has increased its presence in the region as a response to American and Israeli build ups that intend to avoid a potential blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, the main transit way of millions of liters of oil which western nations in Europe and North American depend on to operate. The closing of this important commerce way, say consultants, would heavily damage the state of the global economy.
Iran has expressed their intention to close the Strait of Hormuz if Tehran determines that Israel and/or the United States are close to attack its nuclear energy sites. Both the United States and Israel have denied they have intentions to carry out an attack over Iranian soil. However, recent history shows that the establishment military industrial complex that controls both the American and Israeli governments are not to be trusted when it comes to their military aggression plans.
The military exercise codenamed Austere Challenge 12, intended to simulate an Iranian attack which would include the launch of missiles on Israel. According to Israeli military officials, the drill is now scheduled to take place in the summer of 2012.
The Israeli Defense Forces said the military exercise was not a response to the recent threats made by Iranian authorities but that it had been planned a long time ago. The drill “is not in response to any real-world event,” said the IDF in a statement.
Additionally, the Defense Ministry said that the postponement of the drill has not been announced, because the final decision is still being addressed by Israeli and U.S. officials. The entity also asserted that the reason the drill was postponed did not have anything to do with budgetary issues.
Major military exercises between Israel and the United States began to take place in 2009, with both nations holding large joint missile defense exercise. It was those same exercises along with the invasion of Egypt, Libya and Syria by U.S. special forces and CIA agents, what prompted Iran to begin a military escalation in the region which sounded all the war alarms in the Persian Gulf.
