Iran Military Leader Says U.S. Carrier Should Not Return to Gulf Base

[Teh One Who Knocks]

The Associated Press


http://i.imgur.com/6Udce.jpg

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's army chief has warned an American aircraft carrier not to return to the Persian Gulf.

Gen. Ataollah Salehi spoke as a 10-day Iranian naval exercise ended Tuesday. The drill near the strategic Strait of Hormuz was Iran's latest show of strength in the face of mounting international criticism over its nuclear program.

The official IRNA news agency quoted Salehi as saying: "We recommend ... to the American warship that passed through the Strait of Hormuz and went on to the Gulf of Oman, not to return to the Persian Gulf."

Motives behind Salehi's statement were not immediately clear.

The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet has said that USS John C. Stennis and another vessel headed out from the Gulf and through the Strait of Hormuz last Tuesday, after a visit to Dubai's Jebel Ali port.

The USS John C. Stennis is one of the U.S. navy's largest vessels. Last week, it passed through the Strait of Hormuz traveling east across the Gulf of Oman in what the US Defense Department called a "routine" passage, AFP reported.

On Tuesday, Iran ended 10 days of military exercises at the entrance of the Persian Gulf. The exercises saw Iran test-fire three missiles designed to sink warships.

The U.S. keeps at least one aircraft carrier in or near the Gulf at all times, on rotations of weeks or months. It maintains the base of its Fifth Fleet in the Gulf state of Bahrain.

The U.S. has warned it will not tolerate a closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has said it has no intention of closing the strait, but has carried out "mock" exercises on shutting it.

Earlier Tuesday, French foreign minister Alain Juppe said Iran was continuing to develop nuclear weapons and called for stronger sanctions against Tehran.

"Iran is pursuing the development of its nuclear arms, I have no doubt about it," he told French television I-Tele. "The last report by the International Atomic Energy Agency is quite explicit on this point."

[FBD]

oh, it will return. now what again do you fools think you can do about it?

[Godfather]

You see the picture man, they have H&K MP5's :roll: :lol:


These twits better be careful with the rhetoric.... they've said whatever they wanted for years now but this blockade and nuclear shit isn't a joke anymore.

[Muddy]

The Pentagon on Tuesday pushed back on Iranian warnings against returning a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf.

http://i.imgur.com/UciBJ.jpg

"The deployment of U.S. military assets in the Persian Gulf region will continue as it has for decades," Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said in a statement sent to Yahoo News Tuesday. "These are regularly scheduled movements in accordance with our longstanding commitments to the security and stability of the region and in support of ongoing operations."

"The U.S. Navy operates under international maritime conventions to maintain a constant state of high vigilance in order to ensure the continued, safe flow of maritime traffic in waterways critical to global commerce," Little's statement continued. "We are committed to protecting maritime freedoms that are the basis for global prosperity; this is one of the main reasons our military forces operate in the region."

The Pentagon statement came in response to a comment from Iran's army chief Ataolla Salehi Tuesday, which asserted that Iranian military exercises had prompted a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier to vacate the Persian Gulf. Salehi also issued a warning to the United States about any plans for the carrier's return.

"Iran will not repeat its warning ... the enemy's carrier has been moved to the Sea of Oman because of our drill," Iran Army chief Ataollah Salehi said Tuesday, Reuters reported. "I advise, recommend and warn them over the return of this carrier to the Persian Gulf because we are not in the habit of warning more than once."

Salehi didn't name the American naval vessel in question, "but the USS John C. Stennis leads a task force in the region, and the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet website pictured it in the Arabian Sea last week," Reuters reported.

Tensions have been rising between the United States and Iran in recent weeks, as Iranian officials have issued a series of boasts about their military capabilities to control the Persian Gulf, a key global energy transport hub. The United States in turn last week announced billions of dollars in weapons sales to American Persian Gulf allies of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.

Analysts say the erratic Iranian threats--sometimes followed by conciliatory statements--are a sign of the Tehran government's rising panic about tightening economic sanctions, including newly passed U.S. sanctions on Iran's Central Bank. President Obama signed a defense authorization bill over the weekend that includes a measure that would penalize foreign companies and countries that work with the Iranian financial institution. The ban would potentially choke off a chief source of Iranian revenues for its oil exports. However, the legislation includes an exemption permitting the president to waive the penalty if he determines that it would cause a spike in energy prices or pose a national security threat.

Meanwhile, Iran's foreign ministry said Tuesday that it plans to attend a meeting with international nuclear negotiators.

Iran is "waiting for unveiling date and venue of talks with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany," Iran Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told the Iran Student News Agency Tuesday.

However, a European Union spokesman told Yahoo News Tuesday that the body had not yet received a formal written response from Iran responding to EU High Representative Catherine Ashton's proposal for a meeting.

Iran last met with members of the so-called P5+1 group--the United States, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Russia, China and Germany--in Turkey last January, but the meeting made no progress toward a proposal to resolve international concerns over Iran's nuclear program.

Iran's atomic energy agency over the weekend also announced that its scientists had produced the first fuel rod for use by the Tehran Research Reactor, which makes nuclear isotopes to treat Iranian cancer patients. The assertion--so far unverified by Western officials--is perhaps diplomatically significant, since Iran had previously negotiated with the United States, Russia and France about possibly sending off a significant portion of its stockpiled fissile material in exchange for fuel rods for use by the reactor. Those negotiations collapsed amid a bitter round of mutual recriminations in late 2009. But Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly asserted his interest in reviving them, including in discussions with journalists and policy experts in New York during a recent visit to the UN in September.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/envoy/pentagon-pushes-back-iranian-warnings-u-aircraft-carrier-165850384.html

[PorkChopSandwiches]

Of course they would say that, they would probably like that as well, but when have we ever done anything other then whatever the fuck we want?

[Acid Trip]

Iran is playing with fire. We all know what happens when you do that.

[Hugh_Janus]

U.S. response: Or what? :lol:

[Muddy]

We have a pretty big chunk of our military freed up right now for these guys to be playing games...

[PorkChopSandwiches]

We sure do, and I think you would have a lot more support fucking with Iran then they ever did for Iraq

[Acid Trip]

We sure do, and I think you would have a lot more support fucking with Iran then they ever did for Iraq

We should tell Israel that any ground invasion must be done with their forces. We'll take out the Iranian Air Force, their air defenses, the nuclear sites, and their electrical/communications infrastructure before the first Israeli tank reaches the border.

[PorkChopSandwiches]

We should tell Israel that any ground invasion must be done with their forces. We'll take out the Iranian Air Force, their air defenses, the nuclear sites, and their electrical/communications infrastructure before the first Israeli tank reaches the border.

I like that idea, but isnt Israels air force perfectly capable?

[Hal-9000]

When I saw the news about Iran doing a show with their long range missile tests...I thought the same thing as probably every American in this thread thought....

BRING IT BITCHES!!! :lol:

[Acid Trip]

I like that idea, but isnt Israels air force perfectly capable?

There won't be a fight unless they attack the 5th fleet. Once we're attacked it'd be hard to sit back and watch someone else fight for us.

[Muddy]

This big mouth Ahmadinejihad has been running his mouth a long time now...

[Acid Trip]

This big mouth Ahmadinejihad has been running his mouth a long time now...

He's not even the real boss. The real boss is "Supreme leader Ayatollah ali Khamenei" or however it's spelled.

[Muddy]

He's not even the real boss. The real boss is "Supreme leader Ayatollah ali Khamenei" or however it's spelled.

I guess he's gotten so old that he has finally lost his mind...

[Acid Trip]

I guess he's gotten so old that he has finally lost his mind...

Only if he had it to begin with.


http://www.topnews.in/files/ayatollah_ali_khamenei.jpeg

[DemonGeminiX]

We should park several carriers directly off the coast of Iran and start slaughtering pigs by the dozen on our decks in full view of their military and media.

[Godfather]

We should park several carriers directly off the coast of Iran and start slaughtering pigs by the dozen on our decks in full view of their military and media.

Mmmm good 'ol cookout.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2w71GZ6FbY



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AEPSzLETHM&feature=related

[Godfather]

Carrier groups are like military porn :lol: Some aegis cruisers, destroyers, subs, maybe a few amphibious assault ships (kinda small ACC)'s and a super carrier. Bad.ass.

[Godfather]

*hums Flight of the Valkyries*

http://i39.tinypic.com/35cpx6q.jpg
http://i43.tinypic.com/rcu435.jpg

[Loser]

Would love to see them try to missle the stennis group, they are equipped with the phalynx CIWS.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdp9llrBLnA

[Teh One Who Knocks]

That's bad ass :thumbsup:

[Godfather]

Phalanx is a mean mofo... they're using an adapted version of it in big bases in Iraq too to defeat mortars, arty and RPG attacks. It can defend over a square KM.

[Muddy]

I wonder what would happen if we really took our gloves off on these guys..? No nukes included..

[Teh One Who Knocks]

It wouldn't be much of a fight IMO...as long as we didn't try and go in with ground forces. I think the US could establish control of the air in less than 24 hours and gain control of the coast/strait in less than a week.

[Muddy]

When I say gloves off... I mean roll in like the Germans and blitzkreig everything...

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Never happen, it would be a PR nightmare...remember, the bad guys are allowed to kill as many civilians as they want and nobody says anything. But if there is even one civilian casualty caused by US forces, even if it isn't our fault and it's someone caught up in collateral damage, we're the scum of the earth.

[Muddy]

Agreed.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

You just know that if an armed conflict were to break out between the US and Iran that Immanutjob would love to have a US cruise missile or a bomb from a plane miss its target and hit an apartment building or a school, just so he could parade the dead bodies out on TV and say that the American forces purposely targeted those building to try and kill civilians.

[Muddy]

I think hey got a huge false sense of empowerment after that little drone incident...

[FBD]

they'll have to exhale that air from their chest before too long :lol:

[PorkChopSandwiches]

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__REKFEdPKQ4/Si7o06V_SpI/AAAAAAAABGk/m7QSVkTtSDM/s400/001.JPG

[Muddy]

they'll have to exhale that air from their chest before too long :lol:


http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__REKFEdPKQ4/Si7o06V_SpI/AAAAAAAABGk/m7QSVkTtSDM/s400/001.JPG

:lol: