24th
March 2007
Military
sources report that Middle East and Persian Gulf nations
as well as the US and UK are bracing for further Iranian
marine, air or terrorist operations in Iraq and other
places in reprisal for the sanctions measure before the
UN Security Council in New York. On the ready too are
the Saudi armed forces and some Israeli air and naval
units.
According to Iranian sources the 15 British Royal navy
seamen and marines which an Iranian warship seized with
their commando craft Friday, March 23, will be tried for
espionage which carries the death sentence.
London
insists the UK marines routinely inspecting merchant
vessels for smuggled goods were on the Iraqi side of the
divided Shat al Arb waterway which flows into the
Persian Gulf. Tehran accuses them of entering Iranian
waters.
Military
sources say the incident was but a pretext. According to
incoming intelligence, Tehran plans to release a series
of reprisals after sanctions are approved in New York
Saturday evening, March 24.
The
Islamic Republic is also cautioning its Gulf neighbors
Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, whose
foreign ministers meet visiting US secretary of state
Condoleezza Rice in Assuan Saturday morning, not to
cooperate with Washington’s regional policies and to
stay neutral in the US-Iran dispute.
President Mahmoud Admadinejad’s last-minute cancellation
of his appearance before the Security Council is further
indication that Tehran gave up on diplomatic maneuvers
for pre-empting the sanctions resolution and, assuming
their approval was not preventable, turned instead to
ramping up military tensions.
It was
reported a rendezvous Wednesday between the French
nuclear carrier Charles de Gaulle and its task force
with the USS John C. Stennis in the Arabian Sea
Wednesday for joint missions in the global war on
terror.
The next
day, Iran launched a new naval war game in the Persian
Gulf. Just before the British sailors were seized, UK
commanders in Basra accused Iran of being behind 90% of
the violence in S. Iraq and paying out $250 to anyone
willing to attack British troops.
Amid
rising tensions in the strategic Gulf waters, military
sources disclose the American-French rendezvous was
timed to coincide with the UN Security Council session
Wednesday to debate expanded sanctions against Iran for
continuing its banned uranium enrichment program.
The
Iranians were bowled over by the appearance of the
Charles de Gaulle opposite their southern coast, having
assumed that Paris took issue with Washington’s tough
stand on their nuclear activities and was seeking
improved relations with Tehran.
However,
Western military circles explain that the French
president Jacques Chirac decided before he leaves office
in May to repair the bad impression he left in early
February when he urged the world - and Israel in
particular - to learn to live with “an Iranian nuclear
bomb or two.”
Rafale
fighter-bombers on the French carrier’s decks will fly
missions over Afghanistan alongside US warplanes.
Its
arrival raises to four the number of Western aircraft
carriers cruising within striking distance of Iran,
including the USS Eisenhower and USS Boxer.
The
Charles de Gaulle is accompanied by French Task Force
473, which consists of five warships: the FNS Cassard
guided missile destroyer, the FNS Tourville
anti-submarine frigate, the FNS Dupleix destroyer
adapted for escorting oil tankers and the FNS Marne, a
command and supply vessel. Captain of the French task
force is Rear Adm. Xavier Magne. Commander of the
American flotilla is Rear Adm. Kevin Quinn.
