From PressTV:
Iran has test fired additional long and medium range missiles over the Persian Gulf waters on the third day of military maneuvers.
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) successfully test fired various classes of missiles Thursday including shore to sea, surface to surface and sea to air rockets in what is now the third day of a large-scale military maneuver dubbed Great Prophet III.
IRGC forces also test fired the 'Hoot Torpedo', which only Iran and another country are said to be capable of building.
On Wednesday, the IRGC fired nine long and medium range missiles including the Shahab 1, 2, 3, Fateh and Zelzal rockets.
The maneuvers have also included IRGC scuba divers and marines who conducted practice assaults with speed boats on hypothetical enemy targets.
File photos and video at IribNews.Ir.
These latest Iranian war games are receiving an unprecedented amount of coverage in the US media. So far, the Iranian media has made use of a fair amount of archival footage and photos from previous military exercises to publicize Great Prophet III.
Top of post: File photo of a Hoot rocket torpedo.
The United States and the Bush administration have been threatening Iran for years with its foreign policy and its rhetoric. What we need to do now is back off and leave Iran an honorable path of retreat (Colin Powell, Craft of Diplomacy, 2004).
ReplyDeleteBush and his cronies say they want peace and diplomacy, but the problem with the members of Bush administration is that you can't trust them. You can't take what they at face value.
“I believe President Bush is going to order air strikes (on Iran) before he leaves office”
-Norman Podhoretz (Lyons, 2007).
As former Nixon aide John W. Dean wrote, “George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney have created the most secretive presidency of my lifetime. Their secrecy is far worse than during Watergate” (quoted in Wittkopf and Jones, 2008, 329).
The administration secretly planned and prepared for war with Iraq without disclosing it to the general public. Planning began in November of 2001 and included upgrading airfields in various Gulf countries, moving supplies to the region and the construction of necessary facilities. By April 2002, the planning and preparation for war was also being hidden from Congress. Bush had instructed General Tommy Franks not to make financial requests through Washington. “Anything you need, you’ll have.” The money would no longer be appropriated through congress. By the end of July 2002, Bush had approved more than thirty projects totaling over $700 million. Congress had no knowledge or involvement (Woodward, 2004, 122).
In December of 2002, Bush and Rumsfeld agreed to start secretly deploying troops into the theatre so as not to attract the attention of the press or the rest of the world. The first deployment order went out on December 6, 2002 and deployments continued every two weeks or so thereafter. Troops were given less than a week’s notice at times. In January 2003, the Bush administration arranged for much of its humanitarian relief to be disguised as general contributions to conceal its war planning from the NGO recipients. Yet, when asked about Iraq, Bush’s favorite response was “I have no war plans on my desk.” At one point or another after the planning began, nearly every member of the administration publicly denied any plans to go to war with Iraq (Woodward, 2004, 129).
A better approach to Iran would be negotiations. While Fareed Zakaria agrees that there is no reason not to use sanctions and embargoes against states such as Iran, he suggests that we also need to “allow a viable way out.” That is to say, we need to negotiate and not merely mandate.
Negotiate, we need to do. But we should realize that negotiations would be difficult. On the US side, you can not negotiate effectively while the administration keeps the military option on the table, unless they seek Iran’s surrender now, which is not going to happen.
ReplyDeleteOn Iran side, there is a very strong tendency within the government, including the president, which prefers the current state of crisis and near war to negotiated settlement for internal political reasons (consolidating their power, branding rivals as soft with or tools of the enemy, etc.)
The difficulties notwithstanding, a negotiated settlement to current nuclear standoff is the best practical option.
One other point: The government in Tehran loves to paint an image of Iran as powerful as the US. Others have done similar things in that neck of the wood. We have to be careful not to fall for the propaganda. Iran knows its own strength and limits. All the bravado talks of the past few days notwithstanding, Iran will not send missiles to hit US ships in the Persian Gulf or Israel unless they are put in a position with no other options.