Armada of US and British naval power massing in the Gulf as Israel prepares an Iran strike

[wehateporn]

Just a drill?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...an-strike.html

An armada of US and British naval power is massing in the Persian Gulf in the belief that Israel is considering a pre-emptive strike against Iran?s covert nuclear weapons programme.

Battleships, aircraft carriers, minesweepers and submarines from 25 nations are converging on the strategically important Strait of Hormuz in an unprecedented show of force as Israel and Iran move towards the brink of war.

Western leaders are convinced that Iran will retaliate to any attack by attempting to mine or blockade the shipping lane through which passes around 18 million barrels of oil every day, approximately 35 per cent of the world?s petroleum traded by sea.

A blockade would have a catastrophic effect on the fragile economies of Britain, Europe the United States and Japan, all of which rely heavily on oil and gas supplies from the Gulf.

The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world?s most congested international waterways. It is only 21 miles wide at its narrowest point and is bordered by the Iranian coast to the north and the United Arab Emirates to the south.

In preparation for any pre-emptive or retaliatory action by Iran, warships from more than 25 countries, including the United States, Britain, France, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, will today begin an annual 12-day exercise.

[Phoenix]

dont they do an annual exercise there each year?

[Vapid - BANNED FOR LIFE]

"This is a conflict nobody wants, but the rhetoric from Israel is unrelenting."

[Socks]

Some dude keeps coming to my front door EVERY fucking day. It's getting really creepy. My dog barks and gets all upset, but he still comes. Sometimes he misses a few days, and then he's back again. Drops off letters too.

I'm thinking about killing him if this keeps up. This means war.

[MrGusMuller]

Only to increase oil prices.

[livexxx]

Yup, just a drill/excercise for mine sweeping. Although this time they also decided to have a nimitz battlegroup as well and include as many nations as possible to make it the largest one ever. Plus a full compliment of AEGIS style ships for long range interdiction and the USS John C. Stennis and the USS Ponce, which just got converted into a Spec Ops mothership. Probably extend the scope of minesweeping to also include sweeping the mines out of the factories. Probably Syrian factories.

[rogueteens]

Originally Posted by livexxx

the USS Ponce

Really? LOL!

[tammix]

if george bush jr was still president nothing of this would had happened, bravo obamas ass kissers!!

[Rochard]

Seems to me this is just a drill...

...will today begin an annual 12-day exercise.

But I also love the huge leap the article takes in the paragraph that quote comes from:

In preparation for any pre-emptive or retaliatory action by Iran, warships from more than 25 countries, including the United States, Britain, France, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, will today begin an annual 12-day exercise.

Whatever. Iran huffs and puffs, and the rest of the world does an "exercise" to remind Iran they can get bitch smacked quickly.

[SilentKnight]

LOL @ the idea that just one U.S. carrier has twice the fighter aircraft as the entire Iranian air force.