Thursday, July 05, 2012

Iran/Israel/United States: On Ground Updates - July 05, 2012


Iran/Israel/United States: On Ground Updates
A Massive Storm is now Brewing
Thursday, July 05, 2012
.Image Credit IAF
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* The New York Times had the following report posted late Wednesday evening and it goes in part like this. …The Iranians raised the shrill tone a notch on Wednesday, when the air force commander of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, which has been conducting the missile tests, said he had contingency plans to hit 35 American bases in the early minutes of any conflict… “All these bases are within the reach of our missiles,” the commander, Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, was quoted as saying by Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency. He was also quoted as saying Israel had provided “good targets for us as well.”… The increasingly hostile tone has mirrored pessimism over the lack of visible progress in the nuclear negotiations. [Ya THINK!!!]
Read this report in full at link below…
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* FOX News had the following AP report posted up on their website Wednesday afternoon and it starts off like this… Iran declared Wednesday that it can destroy nearby U.S. military bases and strike Israel within minutes of an attack on the Islamic Republic, reflecting tensions over Iran's suspect nuclear program… The veiled threat came during a military drill that has included the firing of ballistic missiles. The elite Revolutionary Guards, conducting the war games in Iran's central desert, said that the missiles were aimed at mock-ups of foreign military bases…
Read the full report at link below…
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* Guardian News reported it this way… Iran is prepared to launch missiles at US bases throughout the Gulf within minutes of an attack on the Islamic Republic, according to a commander of the country's Revolutionary Guards… In an apparent response to reports that the US has increased its military presence in the Gulf, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards' air force said on Wednesday that missiles had been aimed at 35 US military bases in the Gulf as well as targets in Israel, ready to be launched in case of an attack… The semi-official Fars news agency reported Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh as saying: “We have thought of measures to set up bases and deploy missiles to destroy all these bases in the early minutes after an attack.”…
Read the rest, short video too, at link below…
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* Columnists Robert Fox has this take on the news and it goes in part like this. …The United States has increased its minesweeper force in the Gulf to eight ships. The UK already has a long-standing patrol of minehunters there. US F-22 Raptor stealth fighter-bombers and F15c bombers have been sent to various bases throughout the region, and two aircraft carrier groups are on standby… Britain has plans for putting a squadron of Typhoon Eurofighters in the Gulf, either in Qatar or the UAE. An infantry battalion can be moved at short notice. A western alliance led by the US, Britain and France is preparing forces to suppress Iran’s coastal anti-aircraft missile batteries and their shore-based anti-ship missiles if there is a sudden flare-up round the Straits of Hormuz… In the past 48 hours, officials in Washington and London have lessened the likelihood that the Iranian military and Revolutionary Guard will try to shut the Straits of Hormuz. But fears have been growing in the past few weeks that Israel may carry out a pre-emptive strike against Iran's nuclear centrifuges - principally those at Natanz…
Read the rest at link below…
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Iran Tests Ballistic Missiles as Oil Embargo Takes Effect: US Navy Enters Persian Gulf
About above News Video: Iran has launched several ballistic missiles as part of a military exercise, the country's official news agency IRNA reported. The missiles - which included long-range ones capable of hitting US Navy in the Persian Gulf - successfully hit their targets. The military maneuver coincides with a European Union oil embargo underway since 1 July aimed at applying pressure on the country over its nuclear program. Iran, OPEC's second-biggest producer, is finding fewer countries willing to buy its crude, which could pinch global supplies.
This video posted on YouTube by JewishNewsOne
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POST UPDATE:
Saturday, July 07, 2012
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MINA SALMAN PORT, Bahrain
Tugboats assist the Afloat Forward Staging Base (Interim) USS Ponce (AFSB-I) as the ship pulls into the Kingdom of Bahrain. Ponce is deployed to support maritime security operations and mine countermeasure efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility.
(Image from July 6, 2012)
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ashante Hammons
* GulfNews.com brings us the following report and it goes in part like this… An ageing American Amphibious Naval Ship, converted into a Floating Base, has been equipped with helicopter landing deck, space for troops and more…
Read this report at link below...
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* Reuters had this report posted on their website late Saturday morning and it goes in part like this. …Four U.S. minesweepers arrived in the Gulf last month to bolster the Fifth Fleet and ensure the safety of shipping routes in a waterway through which 40 percent of the world's seaborne oil exports flow… They arrived amid a flaring war of nerves between the United States and Iran over Tehran's disputed nuclear energy program and Iranian threats to block the Strait of Hormuz, the slender oil shipping channel out of the Gulf, in retaliation for a new European Union ban on its oil exports… The four minesweepers were ticketed for a seven-month deployment in an area of operations that includes the Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Red Sea and parts of the Indian Ocean…
Read the full report at link below...
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* YNETNews.com reports… Top commander says Iran won't shut strategic waterway, unless its interests are compromised
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AubreyJ………
ROMNEY2012
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