What\’s going on here?
We are sending a warship to the Persian Gulf, and so are the Iranians.
Excerpted from Adam Kredo\’s article at the Washington Free Beacon:
A fleet of Iranian warships arrived near the southern coast ofYemen on Wednesday in a move likely to add greater tension in a developingU.S.-Iranian standoff in the region, according Iranian military leaders.
Just days after the United States announced it would send its ownwarships to Yemen in order to prevent Iran from smuggling weapons to terrorforces fighting there, a flotilla of Iranian destroyers docked in the samearea.
Iran\’s military moves are likely to increase tensions between thetwo countries as each seeks to bolster opposing sides in the fight currentlyunfolding in Yemen.
The warships will “protect [Iran\’s] cargo ships and oil tankersagainst pirates,” according to Iran’s Fars News Agency.
The United States and other countries fear Iran is using these cargoships to deliver weapons and other deadly hardware to opposition forces inYemen.
The Iranian warships will remain in the area for at least threemonths, according to Fars.
Iranian military officials have been defiant about the country\’spresence in the region, vowing to remain there despite pressure from othercountries.
“This presence [of Iranian warships] continues in the free waters,including the Gulf of Aden, to fight against piracy according to the plan whichwas drawn at the request of the International Maritime Organization and no onecan warn the Iranian warships (to move away) and this has not happened yet,”Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari was quoted as saying inthe Iranian press over the weekend.
The United States recently sent its own fleet of warships to the regionin a bid to respond to Iranian efforts to smuggle weapons to rebel forces inYemen.
The move is meant to give the United States “options” should Iranbe caught smuggling dangerous materials.
Did Barack Obama suddenly become a war-seeking belligerent? Or is this a for-show little game that, it is hoped, will fool Iranians into believing we mean business, when we don\’t?
And what, if anything does it do to the “deal” Mr. Obama and Secretary Of State John Kerry have cooked up?
If we\’re all lucky, the warships will remain intact and the “deal” will be decimated.
Stay tuned……
