Could Iran get any bolder? It seems absolutely bent on starting a war.

On Monday Iran finished off 10 days of naval exercises in international waters near the Strait of Hormuz. In the midst of those war games, Iran’s political and military leaders threatened to retaliate against sanctions by shutting down the strait. It also came to light that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards plan to sow Hormuz with mines.

Hormuz ships over a third of the globe’s seaborne oil. It’s the world’s most crucial oil transit channel. In a world that needs oil to survive, this is no small provocation.

“If the world wants to make the region insecure, we will make the world insecure,” one Iranian lawmaker said. Another followed up, “America should know that the world’s energy gullet, that is to say, the Strait of Hormuz, is in our hands.”


The U.S. responded gamely: by sending an aircraft carrier and its strike group from the Persian Gulf, through the strait and into the Gulf of Oman, the area of Iran’s maneuvers. It said, though, that the movement was pre-planned.

Iran struck back by actually closing Hormuz—for five hours.

This past Saturday morning, Iran’s state agencies “reported” that the naval drills would include some long-range missile tests, and Iran closed its territorial waters. “For five hours Saturday, not a single warship, merchant vessel or oil tanker ventured into the 30-mile-wide Hormuz Strait, waiting to hear from Tehran that the test was over,” debkafile wrote. Later that morning Iran’s navy said it hadn’t fired any missiles after all. “Tehran had demonstrated by this ruse that it could close the vital waterway for hours or days at any moment” (ibid).

If that wasn’t confrontational enough, yesterday Iran upped the ante. The head of the armed forces said Iran would take action if America’s aircraft carrier returned back to its Persian Gulf base. “I advise, recommend and warn them (the Americans) over the return of this carrier to the Persian Gulf because we are not in the habit of warning more than once,” Maj. Gen. Ataollah Salehi said.

The U.S. said it would ignore the threat and intends to stay in the Gulf. It essentially brushed aside Iran’s action, as if they are of no consequence. When asked if it would send more ships to reinforce the area, the Pentagon said, “No one in this government seeks confrontation over the Strait of Hormuz. It’s important to lower the temperature.”

Iran clearly disagrees. It seeks confrontation, and it keeps raising the temperature.

But “lower the temperature” has long been America’s approach to Iran’s pushiness. Downplay the danger. Let Iran sow mines in Hormuz—we can clean them out within 48 hours, Washington says. This threat against our aircraft carrier proves that our economic pressure is working. That’s how the White House sees it. The Iranians “are feeling increasingly isolated and they are trying to divert the attention of their own public from the difficulties inside Iran, including the economic difficulties as a result of sanctions,” the State Department said yesterday.

No matter the provocation, essentially this is America’s response. It shrugs its shoulders when a drone crashes in Iran and the mullahs keep it. It ignores Iran’s presence in Afghanistan and Iraq, killing American soldiers. It disregards Iran’s terrorist ties to al Qaeda, and even its complicity behind 9/11. It pretends the nuclear threat is years off. Iran is all talk. All rhetoric. All bluster.

Granted, there is some truth in that. Iran is a classic study in what Hans Morgenthau called the policy of bluff, trumpeting and exaggerating what power it has in order to punch above its weight.

However, to simply dismiss Iran is a gross error. Three points must be mentioned.

One: Exaggerated though its own claims may be, Iran’s power is real, substantial, and growing. It continues to make strides in its armaments, including nuclear technology. Its web of terrorist activities throughout the region and beyond is strong and getting stronger. America’s withdrawal gives it freer course in Iraq. The rise of radical Islamist forces throughout the Middle East bolsters its position.

It’s not without reason that Iran is tightening its grip on Hormuz right now. With Islamist governments gaining control of Egypt and Libya, not to mention Eritrea and Yemen, Iran’s influence over the north and south entrances of the Red Sea is increasing. Its emerging ability to control oil flow through these choke points could cripple the economically fragile West.

Two: Iran’s bravado has exposed America’s broken will. Iran’s provocations have been far more than rhetoric. It has been at war with America, actively, for over a decade. In dramatic fashion before the whole world, it has defied the U.S. and flaunted America’s weakness.

[b]Three, and most important: [/b]This pushiness is leading to war. The weakness in the West’s response has given Iran room to push harder and harder. Sanctions will not do the job. Nothing will stop Iran short of war!

The pushiness in Iran’s foreign policy was specifically prophesied in Scripture.

One end-time biblical prophecy the Trumpet has pointed to consistently over the past two decades speaks of an Iranian-led radical Islamic power, “the king of the south.” What will it do? “And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him ….”

Way back in one of the earliest Trumpet editions—September/October 1990—editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote about this verse: “The Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament says the word push means ‘to strike—used of horned animals,’ or, ‘to push with the horn.’ It is ‘used figuratively of a victor who prostrates the nations before him.’ It also means, ‘to wage war with anyone.’ Push is a violent word!”

That is the verb prophecy uses to define the power we currently see threatening oil routes, openly confronting the world’s most powerful navy, launching missiles and building nukes.

Iran’s prophesied push has already started. America isn’t going to stop it. Just watch. It’s going to keep getting more provocative, more aggressive, more volatile and violent.

Until it ends in war.

http://www.thetrumpet.com/?q=8991.7760.0.0

How about we pray to God to turn ungodliness away from Jacob (Romans 11:25-27)?

^^

Indeed so.

We need so many prayers this year , this is just one of them.

Another Mumu thread by a man whose Nigerianess is questionable!

In Iowa on Thursday when asked if Iran would be justified in responding to the sanctions by blocking the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, US Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul meticulously compared the Western sanctions to a hypothetical move by China to block the Gulf of Mexico, which Americans would consider an act of war. He also said the tough sanctions against Iran are "acts of war," warning of a war with devastating consequences in the Middle East.

A thousand shall fall by my side, ten thousand by my right hand but it shall not come near me.

With my eyes i will behold and see the reward of the wicked whosoever they are.

LagosShia:

[b]what a fanatical christian war-mongering article!

let me just point out some things and make clarifications:

1.) last time i checked my world map,the strait of hormuz through which an estimated 60% of the world's oil supply passes through borders Iran and not the USA.the strait of hormuz is not found in north america.it is found in the middle east,in iran's backyard.what are american war vessels and planes doing there? is that not provocation and even an act of silent war? can you imagine iran or any country having a military presence in the gulf of mexico which borders the USA without american consent? the entire world would not be left to rest by the americans.so my advice is for the americans to get the hell out of the middle east or one day reap what their hands are sowing.

2.) iran is an oil and a gas producing country.it gets income through oil.you dont threaten the means of livelihood for about 80 million iranians and then nag that iran has threatened to block the strait of hormuz if its oil is internationally sanctioned.the americans have lately threatened that they would use economic sanctions to place embargo on the sale of iranian oil.iran is not an IMF puppet to try to turn their oil blessing into a curse.the earlier other countries like Nigeria learn valuable lessons of standing up to western exploitation the better.

3.) trying to link iran to the 9/11 attacks and alqaeda has long being the dream of the USA.apart from ideological diffrences with alqaeda (iran being predominantly shia while alqaeda follows a salafist/wahhabi ideology),no evidence has being found to link the iranians with killing innocent civilians on 9/11.in islam we are taught not to target non-combatants.and like men,the iranians are building a strong army as the Quran says:"and prepare for them what you can of power".iran does not make its military advancement and its home made sophisticated long,medium and short range missiles among other military break-throughs,a secret.you can use the net and find out for yourself how far iran has gone militarily.

4.)the provocations all come from the west from interfering in iranian affairs,to having bases in the middle east to playing regional politics in the middle east.now the dumb writer of the article is making it look like the iranians are the agressors.when that is far from being the truth.he further tries to incite war.he obviously wishes to send the view that iran is being agressive so war should be declared on iran.he is obviously an evangelical christian fanatic who dreams of war and hoping that would return Jesus.he knows little that when/if Jesus returns in amidst a war with iran,Jesus would join the iranian front and oppose the west's arrogance and imperialistic domination and exploitation of poorer countries which they have done even using christianity to reap the poorer nations.Jesus will prove one more time that prophets are sent by God to uplift the downtrodden and not to support the wealthy to add more while the poor gets poorer as the american system and policies dictate.so the first people that would oppose Jesus are the likes of the american government and its allies in israel and european capitals.

furthermore,iran is a nation that has rejected western domination and exploitation.the americans used iran in the days of the dictatorial shah (king) of iran as their playing field.the CIA conducted a coup d'etat in iran and deposed a democratically elected government in the 1950's.they also had so many privileges in iran making the iranians look worse than puppets and iran worse than a colony.that is all what led to the 1979 islamic revolution led by Ayatollah Sayyed Ruhollah al-Khomeini.since then there has being no american embassy in Tehran.to the iranians and rightly so,an american embassy in any country is a CIA hub for american spies to destabilize any country they are located in and manipulate things to their selfish and unilateral interests and exploit the poorer nations and make them perennially weaker.iran has long gotten past that era.[/b]

Surely you can post comments without having to keep plagiarising other people's articles , right

frosbel:


Surely you can post comments without having to keep plagiarising other people's articles , right

what did i plagiarize?

Today Defence Secretary Philip Hammond will warn in a speech in Washington that Britain will play its part in keeping the Straits of Hormuz open whatever Tehran may threaten or do.

This week Iranian commanders have warned that if the West ratchets up sanctions against the Islamic Republic over its nuclear programme it will close the Straits. It has just completed a major naval exercise, which shows it has the maritime muscle to do so - at least for a few days.

It has also warned the US that it will not allow the aircraft carrier John C Stennis to return to Bahrain, home of the US 5th Fleet, through the Straits. Thiswould be illegal as the waters flowing through the 30-mile wide narrows are international.

A sixth of the world's total crude oil output and up to one third of world liquid petroleum gas flows daily through the Hormuz waterway. Much of it is from Iran's 2.4million barrel daily production of crude, so a closure would damage Iran as much as anybody. But things are coming to a crunch over the bid to stop the Iranian military producing and test-firing a viable nuclear weapon - and it is now feared this might be less than 12 months away.

This month the EU countries will agree a total ban on buying Iranian oil. America, Canada and Britain brought in new sanctions late last year, and the signs are these are really hurting.

Meanwhile Iran says it has enriched more uranium and test-fired two new missiles during the naval exercise. The ever-unpredictable President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad shows every signs of indulging in his peculiar brand of brinkmanship - which could slip into wild and unprovoked action at any minute. Part of the problem is that is never quite clear who exactly is in charge of each strand of Tehran's military and foreign policy.

However, the approach of new parliamentary elections this March seems to be unifying the clerical, political, military and Revolutionary Guard leaderships into ramping up the anti-western rhetoric.

Those with a stake in the regime will aim to rally support by keeping Iran in the world headlines as provocatively as possible. It should be the job of western leaders to keep it out of the headlines - not least for the sake of the[b] majority of Iranians, who themselves have been provoked and suffered long enough.[/b]

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-24025451-irans-sabre-rattling-could-turn-into-war-with-west-at-any-time.do

[size=18pt]Obama warned of dumb war with Iran[/size]

A group of former US intelligence officials have issued a memorandum to US President Barack Obama, advising him against starting another long “dumb war”, this time against Iran.


“Another Long War is not in America's or Israel's interests, whatever Israel's apologists claim,” US Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) wrote in the letter published on the consortiumnews.com website on Wednesday.

In 2002, Obama, then a fierce opponent of the war, delivered a speech lambasting the Iraq war as "dumb," "rash," and a "cynical attempt" by the George W. Bush administration to "shove their own ideological agendas down our throats."

The intelligence officials said the militarists, who “represent one Muslim country after another as major threats to US security,” this time are using a “dubious report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)” to portray Iran as a major threat to the US.

The White House has stepped up its anti-Iran war rhetoric after the IAEA released a report in November, accusing Tehran of activities aimed at developing nuclear weapons before 2003 and speculating that these activities “may still be ongoing”.

Iran, however, has categorically refuted the allegations as “baseless”, saying that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the IAEA it has the right to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

The accusations come despite the fact that the IAEA makes regular inspection visits to Iran's nuclear facilities and has TV cameras monitoring those facilities around the clock.

Former IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei has said in a published report that during his time at the IAEA he had not seen “a shred of evidence” that Iran was “building nuclear-weapons facilities and using enriched materials.”

Robert Kelley, a former IAEA director and nuclear engineer, has also said he was “quite surprised” by the lack of new information in the report, further stressing that the report is “highly misleading.”

Referring to the failure of US to find any Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq, Washington's justification for the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the VIPS members said, “We are seeing a replay of the 'Iraq WMD threat'.”

The VIPS officials added, “We are currently winding down what you (Obama) labeled a 'dumb war;' we should not undertake another dumb war against a country almost three times larger than Iraq, that would set off a major regional war and create generations of jihadist.”

Iranian officials have promised a crushing response to any military strike against the country, warning that any such measure could result in a war that would spread beyond the Middle East.

“Such a war, contrary to what some argue, would not make Israel or the US safer,” the ex-US intelligence officials concluded.

HMV/MYA

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/219489.html

Let us not deceive others; let us not deceive ourselves; let us not lend ourselves to deception; ASHE!

The US military is preparing a massive military campaign against Iran, sending thousands of American troops, warships and weaponry to Israel.

An unnamed source said the military deployment of US anti-missile ships and accompanying support personnel will occur in January and later this spring, Global Research reported.

Commander of the US Third Air Force based in Germany Lt.-Gen Frank Gorenc said it is not just an “exercise,” but a “deployment,” The Jerusalem Post said.

http://matthewkingphd.com/2012/01/drums-of-war-iran-us-deploys-troops-in-israel-for-iran-war/

Thousands of US troops deploying to Israel



Without much media attention, thousands of American troops are being deployed to Israel, and Iranian officials believe that this is the latest and most blatant warning that the US will soon be attacking Tehran.

Tensions between nations have been high in recent months and have only worsened in the weeks since early December when Iran hijacked and recovered an American drone aircraft. Many have speculated that a back-and-forth between the two countries will soon escalate Iran and the US into an all-out war, and that event might occur sooner than thought.

Under the Austere Challenge 12 drill scheduled for an undisclosed time during the next few weeks, the Israeli military will together with America host the largest-ever joint missile drill by the two countries. Following the installation of American troops near Iran’s neighboring Strait of Hormuz and the reinforcing of nearby nations with US weapons, Tehran authorities are considering this not a test but the start of something much bigger.

In the testing, America's Theater High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, missile system will be operating alongside its ship-based Aegis system and Israel's own program to work with Arrow, Patriot and Iron Drone missiles.

Israeli military officials say that the testing was planned before recent episodes involving the US and Iran. Of concern, however, is how the drill will require the deployment of thousands of American troops into Israel. The Jerusalem Post quotes US Commander Lt.-Gen Frank Gorenc as saying the drill is not just an “exercise” but also a “deployment” that will involve “several thousand American soldiers” heading to Israel. Additionally, new command posts will be established by American forces in Israel and that country’s own IDF army will begin working from a base in Germany.

In September, the US European Command established a radar system in Israel.

With America previously equipping Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates with weaponry to wreck any chance of an Iranian nuclear weapon program from close by, the US will now have added forces on the ready in Israel and Germany under what Tehran fears is a guise being merely perpetrated as a test-run. RT reported last week that the US is equipping Saudi Arabia with nearly $30 billion F-15 war planes, a deal that comes shortly after Washington worked out a contract with Dubai to give the UAE advanced “bunker buster” bombs that could decimate underground nuclear operations in neighboring Iran.

Since the US surveillance mission over Iran that left overseas intelligence with a captured American drone aircraft, tensions have only escalated between the two nations. After Iran threatened to close down the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial path for the nation’s oil trade, the US dispatched 15,000 marines into the area.

http://rt.com/usa/news/us-troops-israel-iran-257/

Do not act as pawns of the Amorites (oyinbo).

THE TRANS ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE-BROUGHT INTO SLAVERY IN SHIPS (Deut 28:68)
HIGH PRISON POPULATION (Isaiah 42:22)
A SICK AND DISEASE STRICKEN PEOPLE (Deut 28: 59-61)
SUFFERING FROM MENTAL ILLNESS BECAUSE OF HOW WE ARE TREATED (Deut 28:28,34)
CHILDREN BEING TAKEN AWAY AND GIVEN TO OTHER PEOPLE (Deut 28:32)
EVERY RACIAL GROUP COME IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD AND RUN SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSES (Deut 28:43-44)
NOT BEING ABLE TO STAND AGAINST OUR ENEMIES (Leviticus 26:37-38, Deut 28:25)
OUR SONS STAND ON THE STREET CORNERS GOING BUCK WILD (Isaiah 51:20)
HAVING MANY PLACES OF WORSHIP (Churches) ON EVERY STREET (Ezekiel 16:24-25)
LYNCHING, BEING BURNED ALIVE BY OUR ENEMIES, (Deut 28:22)
TEENAGE GANGS RUNNING THE NEIGHBORHOODS, & NONE EFFECTIVE LEADERS (Isaiah 3:12)

http://www.hebrewisraelites.org/blkchristians.htm

Stop deluding yourselves about religion and strange theological theories on Iran's willingness to close Strait of Hormuz. If at all there ll be war with Iran, it won't be as a result of Strait of Hormuz. For a country that's 60% dependent on earnings from oil exports, it's more of an economic suicide for Iran to contemplate such a measure. It will affect Iran more than any country as all import and export operations will be effectively closed.

[list]
[li]Face-off in the Gulf as U.S., Israel and Iran all launch war games in show of force over nuclear plans and key oil route[/li]
[li]UK warns that it is prepared to use force to stop Iran blocking the Strait of Hormuz[/li]
[/list]




The U.S. and Israel are planning a massive military exercise in the Persian Gulf in an attempt to face down Iran over its sabre-rattling in the region.

But the Islamic Republic is also preparing war games in the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic oil route which the country has threatened to block off in a move which could seriously restrict energy supplies.

Britain's Defence Secretary yesterday said that the UK would take military action to prevent Iran - which is believed to be developing secret nuclear weapons - from cutting off the strait.


Under threat: U.S. warships carrying 17,000 personnel enter the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz

Iran announced last night that an annual naval exercise known as 'The Great Prophet' would take place in the strait next month.

Admiral Ali Fadavi, naval commander of the country's Revolutionary Guards, said the drill would be 'different' to previous years, but did not specify how.

The move could clash with a plan by Israel’s military to gear up with U.S. forces in staging major missile defence exercises in the region.

The drills, called Austere Challenge 12, are designed to improve defence systems and co-operation between the forces and would be the largest ever held by the two countries.

Thousands of U.S. and Israeli soldiers will take part as they test multiple air defence systems against incoming missiles and rockets.

Israel has deployed the Arrow system, jointly developed and funded with the U.S., which is designed to intercept Iranian missiles in the stratosphere, far from the country.

A statement from the Israeli military said: ‘U.S. European Command routinely works with partner nations to ensure their capacity to provide for their own security and, in the case of Israel, their qualitative military edge.’


Threat: Iranian television broadcast this video of a missile being launched from an unknown location on Sunday

Philip Hammond, the [b]UK's Defence Secretary, warned the regime in Tehran that Britain will not tolerate the ‘very significant consequences’ [/b]if it fulfils a threat to block the Strait of Hormuz.

He signalled that such action would be blocked by force of arms.

Mr Hammond used a speech in Washington to warn Iran that any move to close the key Gulf trade route would be opposed by the Royal Navy.
‘Any attempt by Iran to do this would be illegal and unsuccessful,’ he said in a speech at the Atlantic Council.

Then in a television interview, Mr Hammond said he wanted to send a ‘very clear message to Iran’ that the UK would not allow the Strait of Hormuz to be closed.
The Royal Navy operates mine clearance vessels in the Gulf as part of a joint taskforce based in Bahrain.

He said: ‘We are an integrated part of the naval taskforce in the Gulf and one of the missions of that taskforce is to ensure that those shipping lanes remain open.
'Any attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz would be illegal and we need to send a very clear message to Iran that we are determined that the Strait should remain open.’
More than 15million barrels of oil pass through the narrow stretch of water between Iran and the United Arab Emirates every day.

Iran has threatened to block the 34-mile wide strait in retaliation for a planned EU trade embargo on Iranian oil.
The planned embargo is an attempt to persuade Iran to abandon plans to develop a nuclear weapon.


Iran has threatened to block the 34-mile wide strait, pictured, in retaliation for a planned EU trade embargo on Iranian oil

Mr Hammond said: ‘Very clearly the Strait of Hormuz is one of the great commercial arteries of the world – it must remain open and flowing, or there would be very significant consequences for the economies of the region and indeed of the world.

'We’ve heard these kinds of threats from Iran before, but there should be no miscalculation by the Iranians about the importance that the international community attaches to keeping the Strait of Hormuz open.’

Mr Hammond was in Washington for his first meeting with his U.S. counterpart, Leon Panetta.

They held talks at the Pentagon yesterday on Afghanistan, Iran and other military matters.

In his speech, Mr Hammond also pointed to the economic crisis as the most serious threat to national and international security.

He spoke out as President Obama yesterday rolled out a new defence strategy that will shrink the U.S. armed forces, but pledged to maintain the country’s position as the world’s dominant military power.

He has already earmarked budget cuts of $489billion (£315billion) over ten years as the pace of spending slows more than a decade after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Mr Hammond said countries would have to work together more to reduce the ‘astronomical’ costs of modern warfare.
‘Without strong economies and stable public finances it is impossible to build and sustain, in the long-term, the military capability required to project power and maintain defence,’ he said.

‘That is why today the debt crisis should be considered the greatest strategic threat to the future security of our nations.’
Last month, the head of the British armed forces said the biggest strategic risk facing the UK was economic rather than military.
General Sir David Richards, the Chief of the Defence Staff, said ‘no country can defend itself if bankrupt’.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2082961/Face-Gulf-U-S--Israel-Iran-launch-war-games-force-nuclear-plans-key-oil-route.html#ixzz1ifn2QIT1

[flash=400,400]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRJu23aKC7E?version=3&hl=en[/flash]

Anyone who ties iran with al qaeda and 9 11 is grossly ignorant of the truth of what happened on 9 11. Its been noted that jet planes can never bring down a solid steel structure like the wtc and jet fuel can not produce the heat needed to melt steel. The wtc was demolished using explosives. You can know from the way it collapsed and how building 7 fell without taking any hit. Did iran al qaeda do this or was it not the us govt 4rm bush even till now. Frosbel point your focus to the masters of deception you rever and the chief architect of the t errorism today