The United States is stepping up its military rhetoric with Iran. It couldn't come at a better time for an increasingly nervous Israel beginning to question America's resolve in the Iranian nuclear crisis.
Iran has been increasing its fleet of smaller boats in the Strait of Hormuz attached with a large warhead for suicide attacks on U.S. naval vessels. It has also added large numbers of mobile land-based cruise missile sites along the Strait's coastline.
“They have a capability, and we take that capability very seriously and are prepared for it,” said Vice-Admiral Mark Fox, commander of the U.S. 5th Fleet. He left no doubt that the U.S. Navy would not tolerate the Iranians placing mines in the Straits or Persian Gulf at any time.
It would be interpreted as an “act of war” the international community wouldn't tolerate, Fox said. American naval response could not be clearer than that.
This comes following Iran's Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi comments last December in which he threatened Iran's intention to “close the Strait” if there were any signs of U.S. provocation. Since that time, U.S. military intentions have flowed from both the Pentagon and commanders in the field.
Vice-Admiral Fox said, “We would, under the direction of the national leadership, prevent that from happening. We always have the right and obligation of self-defense and this falls in self-defense.”
Meanwhile, Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, told reporters in Tehran Sunday his country won't buckle under to international pressure concerning their nuclear program. He claimed that “major nuclear accomplishments” will be announced in coming days, according to state-run Press TV news channel.
Whether these developments are of any real comfort to a now trigger-finger mentality growing in Israel is anyone's guess. Perhaps military warnings from the vice-admiral appear more credible to Israel's conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu than more vanilla press releases from the State Department and the White House.
The prime minister and Obama are known to be suspicious allies of each other. Netanyahu holds a very public contempt for President Obama who himself is on record as defining the prime minister as “difficult” to deal with.
With the introduction of the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln into the Persian Gulf last month, the U.S. is saber-rattling with an Iranian regime that still stands defiant in the face of severe international economic sanctions. With fears growing daily of a pending Israeli response, the military is making its presence more public by the day.
The Iranians have every capability to make a first strike in the area.
“We are very keen on not trying to over-pressurize the situation,” Fox said. “The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps that controls the Persian Gulf operations is “capable of striking a blow. I don't deny that.”
The U.S. has four Avenger-class mine-sweeping ships in the Gulf including the USS Ardent, the Dextrous, the Gladiator and the Scout. The U.K.'s Royal Navy has provided another four mine-sweepers.
The stakes are beginning to escalate with no end in sight. With each military maneuver by either side, the likelihood of mistaken intelligence or unintended provocation grows.
That fact is not lost on the one country in the region with the most at stake – Israel.
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