11th
August 2008
Military
sources note that the arrival of the three new American
flotillas will raise to five the number of US strike
forces in Middle East waters – an unprecedented build-up
since the crisis erupted over Iran’s nuclear program.
This vast naval and air
strength consists of more than 40 carriers, warships and
submarines, some of the last nuclear-armed, opposite the
Islamic Republic, a concentration last seen just before
the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Military sources
postulate five objects of this show of American muscle:
1. The US, aided also by
France, Britain and Canada, is finalizing preparations
for a partial naval blockade to deny Iran imports of
benzene and other refined oil products. This action
would indicate that the Bush administration had thrown
in the towel on stiff United Nations sanctions and
decided to take matters in its own hands.
2. Iran, which imports 40
percent of its refined fuel products from Gulf
neighbors, will retaliate for the embargo by shutting
the Strait of Hormuz oil route chokepoint, in which case
the US naval and air force stand ready to reopen the
Strait and fight back any Iranian attempt to break
through the blockade.
3. Washington is
deploying forces as back-up for a possible Israeli
military attack on Iran’s nuclear installations.
4. A potential rush of
events in which a US-led blockade, Israeli attack and
Iranian reprisals pile up in a very short time and
precipitate a major military crisis.
5. While a massive
deployment of this nature calls for long planning, its
occurrence at this time cannot be divorced from the
flare-up of the Caucasian war between Russia and
Georgia. While Russia has strengthened its stake in
Caspian oil resources by its overwhelming military
intervention against Georgia, the Americans are
investing might in defending the primary Persian Gulf
oil sources of the West and the Far East.
Military sources name the
three US strike forces en route to the Gulf as the
USS Theodore Roosevelt , the USS Ronald Reagan
and the USS Iwo Jima . Already in place are the
USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea opposite
Iranian shores and the USS Peleliu which is
cruising in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
