US Navy releases video of ‘provocative’ Iran rocket fire

 

Footage reportedly shows Iranian vessels firing rockets near American warships in the Strait of Hormuz last month

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The US Navy on Saturday released footage it said showed Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessels firing rockets near warships and commercial traffic in the strategic Strait of Hormuz late last month, a move raising tensions between the two nations despite the recent nuclear deal.

Mideast tensions soar as Saudi Arabia rallies countries to cut ties with Iran

BEIRUT — The Middle East slid dangerously closer to regional conflict Monday after Saudi Arabia rallied its Sunni allies to sever diplomatic ties with Iran, prompting alarmed appeals for restraint from powers across the globe.

Bahrain and Sudan joined Saudi Arabia in cutting off relations with Iran, and the United Arab Emirates, a key Iranian trading partner, recalled its ambassador from Tehran, as the fallout from the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia on Saturday heightened sectarian tensions across the Middle East.

Iran: We Aim to Destroy US Navy Forces in Gulf

American and international naval forces are currently conducting a huge exercise in the Gulf and Red Sea. Navies from 44 countries, consisting of 6,500 personnel and 38 warships taking part in a U.S.-led mine countermeasures exercise that has avoided Iranian territorial waters. The exercise is meant as a show of strength, said 5th Feet [sic] Commander Vice. Adm. John Miller. “The tremendous number of nations participating in this exercise sends a clear signal that threats to global commerce will not be tolerated.”

Iran admiral says if there’s war, U.S. aircraft carriers in Persian Gulf will be a target

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran will target American aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf should a war between the two countries ever break out, the naval chief of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard warned Tuesday as the country completes work on a large-scale mock-up of a U.S. carrier.

The remarks by Adm. Ali Fadavi, who heads the hard-line Guard’s naval forces, were a marked contrast to moderate President Hassan Rouhani’s recent outreach policies toward the West — a reminder of the competing viewpoints that exist at the highest levels within the Islamic Republic.

Persian Gulf states ‘unable to protect themselves’

Despite massive spending on Western weapons, the Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf are “unable to secure themselves from any external threat” — meaning Iran — and are running up huge public and foreign debt, a Gulf think tank says.

Omar al-Shehabi, director of the Gulf Center for Development Policies in Kuwait, said that even though the defense expenditure of the six Gulf Cooperation Council states is the highest in the world, exceeding the combined military spending of Israel and Britain, they still have to “rely on Western countries to provide military protection and security.”