Muscular Liberals

MORE GRANDSTANDING FROM IRAN

Winston from The Spirit of Man blog forwarded me a link to the following rather disturbing post:

This may sound like a bad joke but it is coming out of the mouths of some serious folks inside the Iranian leadership.

An Iranian hardliner party which controls both the Islamic parliament and the government, named Abadgaran, has suggested that Iran should conduct a military exercise with Cuba, Venezuela and other anti-America countries in that region of the world to send a message to the United States of America. Aftab News, the mouthpiece of the Abadgaran party (also here) writes about this on its web site in Persian language.

It reads (It's in Persian & I'll translate):

The head of the Abadgaran political party "Hasan Bayadi" (He is the Vice President of the city council of Tehran) has suggested to the Iranian Ministry of defense to conduct war games near the borders of the America to show the strength of the Iranian military.

He continues:

Every year the US military conducts wargames near countries such as North Korea, Syria or Iran that are not friendly to the USA to show them how mighty the US military is and the Americans have also invaded our air space and interior waters -they say it is not intentional- under the pretext of occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan to send us a message and the message these invasions of our airspace have is that "We can attack you and you are never safe from our military threat and the shadow of fear will always cover your countries"...

Therefore, we, recommend to the new Iranian defense minister to take the initiative and prepare a military exercise with the countries of the western hemisphere such as Cuba and Venezuela.

The article adds:

It is, for sure, a very hard thing to do and the costs of such action is too high but it sends a clear message (it has a positive outcome) to the master of politics around the world.

He also mentions the example done by the prophet of Islam during the battle of Tabouk in which the Muhammad's army was preparing for a battle exercise with the Roman emperor.

He ends his suggestion by adding this war game with our allies in that region, near the US borders, will pave the way for military cooperations with the regional governments and it will also be a stage for Iran's military to show to world, especially the Imperialists, how strong it is and finally it is also a chance and a great advantage for the Iranian armed services to test their capablities with our allied countries overseas.

Nice spot Winston. I've not seen this article translated elsewhere.

Meanwhile:

A top commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Hossein Kargar, said Monday that the current maneuvers in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea aim to prepare the troops in case of attack by the U.S. "Regarding the threats by the global arrogance, defensive preparation is a task of the armed forces," Kargar was quoted by the state news agency IRNA as saying.

and:

Iran says tests flying boat in Gulf wargames

Iran on Tuesday successfully tested a "super-modern flying boat", state television said, giving another vague description of military hardware Iranian forces are testing in Gulf wargames.

The Defense Ministry was not immediately able to give a clear description of the new vessel but told Reuters it was not a form of hovercraft.

Iran's navy used to have one of the world's largest hovercraft fleets before the 1979 Islamic revolution. Military experts say only about 10 decrepit vessels remain in service.

State television did not show the "flying boat".

"A super-modern flying boat was successfully tested in the 'Great Prophet' wargame in Persian Gulf waters," state television said.

"Because of its hull's advanced design, no radar at sea or in the air can locate it. It can lift out of the water. It is wholly domestically built and can launch missiles with precise targeting while moving," it added.

Something's stirring all right. Nothing to do with the forthcoming Iran-US talks over Iraq, I'm sure.

That said, when you read of a "super-modern flying boat" being tested in the "Great Prophet" wargame, you start thinking the likes of Iowahawk have been up to some mischief...

(Hat-tip for the latter articles: Regime Change Iran.)

posted by Dan @ 1:59 pm