Iran's Elite Military Unit To Patrol Gulf

(AP)  Iran announced Tuesday that it has put the elite Revolutionary Guards in charge of defending the country's territorial Persian Gulf waters in what appeared to be a hardening of its stance in the vital oil route.

U.S. commanders in the Gulf have in the past said they find Guards ships more confrontational than the regular Iranian navy, which until the new order was responsible for Iranian defenses in the Gulf.

Iran has warned repeatedly that it will close the narrow Hormuz Strait at the mouth of the Gulf if the United States or Israel attacks it amid tensions over Iran's nuclear program. Around 40 percent of the world's oil passes through Hormuz. Last winter, Iranian and U.S. ships patrolling the Gulf had a series of small confrontations in Hormuz that the Americans blamed on provocations by Guards ships.

Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, the top military adviser of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, announced the change on the state news agency IRNA. He said "responsibility to defend the Persian Gulf" has been delegated to the Guards' navy, while the regular navy would operate in the Oman Sea, outside the Gulf and in the landlocked Caspian Sea.

Safavi, who was the head of the Guards until earlier this year, added a warning that all vessels in the Gulf are within the range of Iranian missiles.

"The Guards' missiles are able to cover the whole width of the Persian Gulf. No warship can pass through the waterway without being in our range," he said. "Our armed forces, possessed with defensive weapons including missiles, air, sea and torpedoes, are able to control the strait of Hormuz."

He also repeated warnings that Iran would retaliate against U.S. bases in the Gulf if Israel launches a strike against Iran.

"The Zionist regime doesn't have the necessary political, economic and social capabilities to start a big war," he said. If Israel attacks, U.S. forces in the region "will be put in serious danger. Definitely, the Americans don't want to get involved in a fourth front after conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Georgia."

Israel, which is believed to possess a nuclear arsenal, has warned it would attack Iran to prevent the Persian state from acquiring nuclear weapons. The U.S. says it seeking a diplomatic solution, but has not ruled out military action. Iran denies it intends to develop nuclear weapons.

The Guards corps, which has land, navy and air components, is considered better equipped than the normal military and more ideologically fervent, tasked with protecting Iran's Islamic government, dominated by hard-line clerics.

The Guards' vessels stepped up patrols in Hormuz last year during a period when the U.S. had increased its naval strength in the Gulf, making a show of strength over Iran's defiance of U.N. resolutions on its nuclear program. The Guards say their navy vessels ask ships to identify themselves before entering the Gulf.

Despite last year's frictions, U.S. Navy and Iranian officials say their vessels are in frequent radio contact to avoid incidents in the waters of the narrow, heavily trafficked Gulf.

[downsteamjim]

I bet they still remember the destruction of the Iranian navy by Reagan.

[petro49l]

George W. Bush might declare war on Pakistan, Iran, Venezuela, and Russia for the Saudis. His war for high oil prices has led to intense hostility. Bush is a paranoid tyrant. He thinks that arrogance, insolence, and crudeness fills his pockets with bribes from the Saudis. A reduction in world use of petroleum would disillusion them. Then, George Bush will be worthless coward (in their book).

[babooph]

The weaker we get ,the stronger the adversaries act.

[guadalcanal3]

Close the Strait?...Ha!...ha!...now that''s really funny.....There is somebody who won''t let them do that....They are called: "THE UNITED STATES NAVY."

[toolmangler-2009]

They will closed the stright that they have one side of, they don''''t think about the rest of the world and the fire power that would be place on they if they tryed this
Posted by aothah at 11:57 AM : Sep 16, 2008



They are counting on it. This is a country run by religion (Islam) They''re looking for their form of armageddon and they believe that if they can provoke an attack by the rest of the world against (the faithful) that Allah will return and kill the infidels. The religious christian extremist believe the same type of prophesy only Jesus will return.

[samsel3]

Russia has multiple nuclear power plant contracts with Iran. These plants are currently under construction. Iran & Russia are teaming up for a new natural gas pipeline to India & S.E.Asia. This will compete with the TAPI pipeline going through Afghanistan, (Cheneys big pipe dream)the US wants regime change.

Reuters uk January 18, 2008 : " Iran has some awesome colleagues. Russia and China have become guardians of the Iranian economy. They don%u2019t put religion between business and political advantages. The US is sorely lacking in intelligent Foreign Policy. Hitler%u2019s Foreign Policy has been resurrected to serve the needs of an oil agenda and turn the US into the most disrespected and despised world power ".

Moscow -- Armed forces will be used if necessary, including preventively and with the use of nuclear weapons, for protection of Russia and its allies, the Russian Armed Forces Chief of the General Staff Yuri Baluyevsky said on Saturday.

"We do not intend to attack anybody. But all our partners must realize that for protection of Russia and its allies if necessary armed forces will be used, including preventively, including with the use of nuclear weapons," Baluyevsky was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying.

Baluyevsky reportedly made the statement at a scientific conference of the Academy of Military Sciences January 19, 2008.

[tbweb]

As long as the U.S. is perceived to be overextended and weak America`s enemies will continue to taunt, challenge, provoke and sell wolf tickets, only a strong U.S. prevents this.

[beehive21-2009]

Your witnessing Big Oil tactics,as the price goes down,these Presidents start waving the swords attempting to raise oil prices,notice how they state closing the Straits ,and 40 % of the World oil travels ?
Notice how they state ,attack US bases ,if they were attacked they would be done ,no attacks,only the kissing of the feet.Iranians are not stupid,and the Presidents of the two countries are going to wave the swords attempting to advance the price of oil for Big OIL
World Oil must be nationalized ASAP,before they nuke, the Earth,we are Earthling.

[powerman2001]

All the smart Iranians left that country after the revolution. Isreal should just bomb them back to the stone ages (not that they aren''t already far from it).

[rational_1]

I wonder how many air-to-air missiles you can attach to a flying carpet fighter.

These jokers might want to re-evaluate their military intelligence - just how many troops do they think we have involved in the conflict in Georgia?