Posted on 03/30/2006 8:39:52 PM PST by Flavius
LONDON, March 30 (IranMania) - Thousands of Iranian troops will on Friday start a week-long military maneuver in the Persian Gulf to ready armed forces for warding off "threats", a senior commander announced on state television, AFP reported.
The commander of the navy of Revolutionary Guards Corps, Rear Admiral Mostafa Safari, did not specify the nature of the threat although the maneuver comes amid increasing tensions with the West over Tehran's nuclear programme.
"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 maneuver from 31 March until 6 April in the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman," he said.
Iran has two armed forces in which both have their own ground, naval and air force all under the command of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
He added: "We hope ... We will gain the necessary and needed readiness to decisively reply to any kind of threats."
"More than 17,000 soldiers and sailors will be used, along with 1,500 different kind of vessels, in addition to the different sorts of jet fighter planes, choppers and different missiles," he added, but did not say whether Iran will use its ballistic missiles, AFP noted.
Iran has medium-range Shahab-3 missiles with the capability of 2,000 kilometers (1,280 miles), able of hitting arch-enemy Israel and US bases across the Middle East.
"The exercise will cover an area stretching from the northern tip of the Persian Gulf all the way to the port city of Chah-Bahar in the Sea of Oman extending 40 kilometers (25 miles) into the sea," he said.
In addition, the spokesman of the maneuvers, Rear Admiral Mohammad Ebrahim Dehghan told state television that the strait of Hormouz will be one of the focal points of the exercise, AFP added.
"Some 80% of the Persian Gulf's oil is shipped out of this strait over which Iran has dominant and accurate control," he said.
"If the enemy wants to make the area insecure, he should be rest assured that he will also suffer from the insecurity, since we know the location of their vessels," he added.
The country is currently under mounting international pressure over its disputed nuclear energy drive, alleged by Israel and the West to be cover for weapons development. Tehran denies the charges, AFP stated.
Top diplomats from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany will meet in Berlin on Thursday to map out a long-term strategy on how to contend with Iran's refusal to halt uranium enrichment, which could be used to build a nuclear bomb.
In Israel, Tehran's arch foe, however, several officials have openly hinted at the possibility of pre-emptive strikes against Iran, seen as a threat to the existence of the Jewish state.
On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that any attempt at using force or coercion to resolve the standoff over Iran's nuclear program would be counter-productive.
"Any ideas about a coercive, forceful solution to the issue are highly counter-productive and cannot be supported," Lavrov told reporters in Moscow.
Iran's Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said nearly two months ago that Tehran will give an "extremely quick and destructive response" to any attack against its nuclear facilities, according to AFP.
However, Iran, OPEC's second biggest oil producer, has been sending mixed messages over whether it would use its oil exports as a weapon in the case of action from the UN Security Council.
Target practice.
Invade their country , kill their leaders , convert them to Christianity
The pure BS line of the article - Iran couldn't close the straits for more then a few days (if that) once any hostilities broke out -
Note: The following article is a quote:
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http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-236/0603295342200313.htm
Tehran, March 29, IRNA
Iran-Wargame-Prophet
Iran is to launch a massive joint naval wargame titled "Holy Prophet (PBUH)", beginning on March 31 with shooting of a Shahab II Missile into the air with the message of "Peace and Friendship" for the regional countries, Persian Gulf, and Sea of Oman littoral states.
Commander of the Islamic Republic Guard Corps Naval Force Admiral Morteza Saffari announced the news at a press conference here on Wednesday, adding, "The IRGC Naval Force, the IRI naval and Army forces, volunteer Forces and the IRI Disciplinary Forces will participate in the military maneuver.
The wargame would begin with the password "Muhammad the Messenger of Allah," according to the IRGC Naval Force Commander and last till April 6 in the northern coasts of the Persian Gulf up to 40 kilometers to the south, to Iran's border port city of Chabahar in the region.
Over seventeen thousand of Iran's armed forces and Basij mobilization forces, would take part in the naval wargame in which ,500 large and small naval vessels of various types would participate.
The IRGC official added, "The Command Headquarters of the wargame would be the IRGC Noah Naval Barracks, while five other army, Air Force and navy bases in three provinces would back up the massive operation."
Admiral Saffari announced the entire armed forces' of the country's full readiness to defend the territorial integrity of the motherland.
He added, "The latest local achievements of the country in defense industries, implementation of the experiences of the country's armed forces in planning and launching massive military operations in practice, evaluation of the conduct of our commanders, and providing a real atmosphere for our mobilization forces to display their defense apabilities are among the top objectives of the maneuver." The four-phased naval wargame is meanwhile planned to display the Islamic system's defensive capabilities.
Iranian made drones would be flied to collect information from the virtual enemy's camp, sea-to-air missiles capable of pursuing moving objects, helicopters capable of shooting air-to-sea, and air-to-land missiles, rapid reaction boats, Iranian made intelligent mines with multi-sensors, various naval rocket mine launchers, huge Iranian made naval rockets and up-to-date telecommunication facilities would be among the sea of equipment to be facilitated during the wargame.
News sent: 20:03 Wednesday March 29, 2006Print
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I like the way you think. :)
Let's be real... the only ones who will stay at their posts when the allied forces begin the attack are the ones seeking martyrdom, the rest will do everything they can to surrender to us.
This isn't the 80's for starters - Secondly we wouldn't be a sitting target like the USS Cole was that day - Thirdly we'd take out any silkworm sites rather quickly once they were activated, the mining of the straits could be worked around rather quickly (within days)......Iran is all smoke when they talk about closing the straits, won't happen.
We can seize the part of Iran near the straits if it comes to that. With the amount of money involved, there is no way they are going to succeed in keeping the straits closed for more than a very short time. We have ships specifically equipped for mine clearing and can haul the carcass of even a supertanker out of those waters if we need to (or simply blow it to bits to clear the way).
This is akin to a cat making his hair stand on end when he's frightened in the hope that he'll look bigger to whatever he's scared of.
That's an old "2700" FRAM can. Gearing class, I think, based on the spacing between the funnels.
Looks like she's been expertly and heavily rearmed. I always thought we should have done that with all those old 1600 and 2100 tin cans we had in fleet reserve from the Big Show. We still had hundreds of them, many in pretty good shape, sitting at piers in quiet rivers in 1971; I went aboard some of them in Orange, Texas. That was when Harpoon was first being tested, and that and Exocet and Seawolf would have made excellent warm-water AAW small-combatants of them. They could have been equipped with SURTASS and Melkara/Ikara without much effort, too. Add in an old CVL with a LAMPS helo wing and an S2F or two embarked, and hey presto, you've got your MEF's escort group -- all paid for, nothing to build, nothing to wait on, just reequip with off-the-shelf systems and you're in business with dough left over for those three or four extra 688 SSN's you wanted. Could have been a sweet deal.
Imagine what we could have saved on not building all those damned 1052's. What a money sink!
I agree. Iran could close the Strait for a few days. It would be an act of war, but they could close and hold that area for a few days.
The after-shock would linger for months.
They wish to sink a Super-carrier. That is their goal. The after-shock would linger for years.
My prediction: Iran attacks the U.S. Washington task force.
Result: Iranian shore batteries=destroyed. Iranian navy=destroyed. Iranian air-force=destroyed.
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