WARGAMES: Iran's "Great Prophet" Coinciding with US/Israel's "Austere Challenge 12"; one spark away from WWIII?

The semiofficial Fars news agency late Thursday quoted the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's naval commander, Adm. Ali Fadavi, as saying that the upcoming exercise would be the seventh staging of an annual drill called "The Great Prophet."

Fadavi said the next round of war games would be "different" from previous ones. He did not elaborate. The admiral said the drill would take place in the Iranian month of Bahman, which roughly corresponds to February.

[link to barracudabrigade.blogspot.com]

Confrontation? Iran’s New Naval Exercise to Coincide With US/Israeli Drill

[link to counterpsyops.com]

Strait of Hormuz powder keg: US-Israel to meet Great Prophet?

With tensions around the Strait of Hormuz sky-high, Iranian plans to conduct the country's "greatest naval war games” could coincide with joint US-Israeli exercises in the Persian Gulf. With both sides taking positions, could a real battle be looming?

Hopefully the massive exercises will remain just that. But with three armies on the playing board, one spark could be enough to ignite an all-out war.

[link to rt.com]

calm down, for cryin out loud

Behind the Deepening Crisis with Iran: the Real Story Versus the Cover Story

The real issue is the fact that Iran has upgraded its medium range conventionally-armed missiles with GPS technology, making its missiles much more accurate.

Iran does not need nukes to deter Israel. It can do so with its GPS-guided medium range missiles.

A few direct hits by Iran on Israel's own nuclear, bio and chemical weapons stockpiles, located inside Israel, as well as the Dimona nuclear reactor; could cause a toxic plume, killing thousands of Israelis. A worst case might signal the end of the Jewish state.

The present crisis has been manufactured to create the pretext for a US air campaign to take out Iran’s conventional missile sites.

[link to paper.li]

It's on Debkafile as well, I was just reading it before coming to GLP.

Thanks for head's up!

Thousands of US troops land in Israel.
Aircraft carrier coming soon

The 9,000 US servicemen gathering in Israel in the coming weeks are mostly airmen, missile interceptor teams, marines, seamen, technicians and intelligence officers.

[link to www.debka.com]

Panetta Invokes Korea, Iran Dispute in "Warfare" Scenario"

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta: "The nature of warfare today is that as you—as you engage, you have to look at how you do it, what forces do you use to be able to confront that enemy, what exactly is involved. I mean, the reality is, you could face a land war in Korea and at the same time face threats in the Straights of Hormuz. We have the capability, with this joint force, to deal with those kinds of threats, to be able to confront them, and to be able to win. That’s what counts."
Afghan President Demands U.S. Relinquish Control of Bagram

[link to www.democracynow.org]

Real Admiral Ali Fadavi told FNA the exercises next month would focus directly on the Strait of Hormuz, which leads out of the Persian Gulf and provides the outlet for most Mid-East oil.

Fadavi said the next round of wargames would be "different" from previous ones. He did not elaborate. The admiral said the drill would take place in the Iranian month of Bahman, which roughly corresponds to February.

[link to english.farsnews.com]

US recalibrating Iran war plan

From the recent massacres happening in Iraq and Syria, one can gather that Washington has adamantly trodden on a path which is to be seen as a way to redefine the war in Iraq, an effective stratagem to bring the regime of Assad to its doom and recalibrate a comprehensive plan to topple the Islamic government of Iran.

Washington is redefining the war in Iraq by fomenting chaos and commotion in the ravaged country with three apparent motivations:

1. to create the impression that the withdrawal of US troops was a mistake and that the country is plunging into mayhem with incredible rapidity, thereby justifying their debacle in the country.

2. To sow the seeds of sectarian war in Iraq which is home to various ethnic groups and religious sects with the express intention of re-installing elements from the executed dictator Saddam Hussein's Baath regime which can undoubtedly safeguard the interests of the US government.

3. To devolve the war it lost to the care of the Saudi-backed Wahhabis, al-Qaeda members and Baathists who intensely champion and practice extremism, fanaticism and terrorism to the best interests of Washington.

The pernicious trio, who work under the aegis of the CIA and Mossad, help tilt the scale in favor of insecurity, instability and division in the strategic Middle East region.

In parallel with the same fiendish practice, Washington has hired Saudi-funded mercenaries to orchestrate a selfsame scenario with more devastating consequences in Syria e.g. the toppling of the popular anti-Israeli government, eliminating one of the main Iranian allies and muscularizing the Zionist regime in the region.

It is apparent that Washington and Tehran are at crossed swords now and one cannot recall a time when Tehran was so boldly defiant in the face of the US cudgel-brandishing policies.

[link to www.presstv.com]

US-Israel war games to prepare the countries for potential large scale conflict in the Middle East and send powerful message to Iran.

[link to twitter.com]

Thousands of US Troops Land in Israel

[link to virtualjerusalem.com]

Western countries discuss tapping up to 14 million bdp of oil from emergency stockpiles if Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz; action would be five-times larger than any other release from reserves.

LONDON - Western powers this week readied a contingency plan to tap a record volume from emergency stockpiles to replace nearly all the Gulf oil that would be lost if Iran blocks the Strait of Hormuz, industry sources and diplomats told Reuters.

They said senior executives of the International Energy Agency (IEA), which advises 28 oil consuming countries, discussed on Thursday an existing plan to release up to 14 million barrels per day (bpd) of government-owned oil stored in the United States, Europe, Japan and other importers.

Action on this scale would be more than five times the size of the biggest release in the agency's history -- made in response to Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.


[link to www.jpost.com]

Britain threatens military action against Iran

Royal Navy ships based in Bahrain are already poised to ensure tanker traffic remains unrestricted.

[link to www.telegraph.co.uk]

Royal Navy sends its mightiest ship to take on the Iranian show of force in the Gulf

The Royal Navy's most formidable warship is being sent to the Gulf for its first mission as tensions rise in the strategically vital region, it can be disclosed.

[link to i.telegraph.co.uk]

The £1 billion destroyer carries the world's most sophisticated naval radar, capable of tracking multiple incoming threats from missiles to fighter jets

[link to www.telegraph.co.uk]

Gulf states brace for unwanted US-Iran war

DUBAI — The Arab states that lie just miles across the Gulf from Iran are nervously eyeing the prospects of a war between Tehran and the West that none of them want and all know could devastate their economies.

This very real fear is prompting the oil-rich states to enhance their defences while hoping that diplomacy can rein in Tehran's regional ambitions and put an end to its worrying nuclear program.

"No one in the Gulf States wants war but everyone is preparing for the possibility that it might happen," said military analyst Riad Kahwaji.

[link to www.google.com]