In another heated escalation over the strategic Strait of Hormuz, Iran Tuesday, Jan. 3, threatened to take action if the US aircraft carrier USS Stennis, which "moved to the Sea of Oman because of our drill returns to the Persian Gulf." Army chief Lt. Gen. Ataolla Salehi said:" Iran will not repeat this warning." It is hard to see Washington caving in over Tehran's ultimate challenge to the freedom of this vital international waterway and accepting Iran's assumed right to control passage.

By a media trick, Tehran proved its claim that closing the Strait of Hormuz is as "easy as drinking water," debkafile reports.  First thing Saturday morning, Saturday, Dec. 31, Iran's state agencies "reported" long-range and other missiles had been test-fired as part of its ongoing naval drill around the Strait of Hormuz. At 0900, Tehran announced the test was delayed. But meanwhile, for five hours Saturday, not a single warship, merchant vessel or oil tanker ventured into the strategic strait, although not a shot was fired.

Iranian Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi Monday, Dec. 26, replied to Sunday's debkafile report which revealed Tehran's plan to use its big 10-day naval drill east of the Strait of Hormuz to test its vaunted cyber intelligence prowess against US warships. He said Iran has great capabilities in "all fields of national defense, including the use of intelligence drones." The Islamic Republic, he said, could employ aerial drones to counter any potential US-led covert war. But he did not refer to a full-scale war offensive.

 

Bigheaded from capturing the US RQ-170 Sentinel stealth  drone, Tehran Monday, Dec. 12 announced plans soon for a navy drill to practice closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the most important oil transit channel in the world. Iranian lawmaker Parviz Sorouri said, "Iran will make the world unsafe if the world attacks Iran." The drill will challenge US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's recent warning that Iranian disruptions of Persian Gulf free traffic would be a red line for the US.

 

For the eight-day war game, dubbed "The Last Prophet" or "Judgment Day," Iran mobilized the best part of its naval, air, commando and elite forces for a drill whose codenames signal its goal, to displace the US military and naval presence from the Strait of Hormuz to the Gulf of Aden, including the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea. The exercise was used as cover to "check passing ships" in these waters.

Modeled on the Bladerunner 51 sporting speedboat, Ya Mahdi was displayed in the large-scale military exercise launched by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the Straits of Hormuz Thursday, April 22.
Iran claims it can blow a 7-meter hole in any enemy warship with its extra-fast Russian-made torpedoes and is now in mass production.