The Trump administration is intent on pressuring Iran. President Trump announced last year that the United States would be exiting the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and he gave a long list of reasons why. This included Iran’s meddling in the region, its continued ballistic missile testing, its support of terrorist groups and activities and its compete disregard for human rights.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also provided Iran with a long list. This time it was a long list of conditions that the regime had to adhere to before the United States would even consider negotiating with Iran.

Pompeo is now leading the calls for Iraq to take action regarding Iran. He will be visiting Kuwait and Lebanon to speak to officials about how Iran can be contained.

The U.S. Secretary of State would like to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation. However, this is a risky move because the IRGC is Iran’s military organisation and the U.S. has never designated any government’s military before. Furthermore, there is a risk that other governments could take the same action back.

Aside from this move that may or may not materialize, it also seems that the United States will look to designate other groups or at least impose travel restrictions and economic sanctions. Pompeo said earlier this week that this is an avenue he will explore with the officials he meets in his upcoming visits.

These groups will include militias in Iraq that were trained by Iran’s IRGC but operate with the approval of the Iraqi government. Some are part of the umbrella organisation, the Popular Mobilization Forces, that is composed of dozens of paramilitary groups that have participated in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS). Many receive funding from the Iraqi government.

Pompeo has already called on the leaders of Iraq to stop purchasing Iranian natural gas. Leaders in Iraq, however, have made it clear that they are opposed to the U.S. sanctions that were put in place after the United States exited the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Tensions between the U.S. and Iraq have worsened over the past few months, but the United States has made it very clear that it wants Iran to be expelled from Iraq before the situation in the Middle East takes a turn for the worse.

The U.S. has kept 400 American troops in Syria following the backlash when Trump announced in December that all troops would be withdrawn. However, those that remain in Iraq are faced with the country’s reluctance to let the U.S. troops move around or operate.

Whatever will happen, it is imperative that the United States continues to crack down on the Iranian regime. Its belligerence is a major obstruction to peace and security in the Middle East and its terrorist attacks are escalating further afield, particularly in Europe.

Last year alone, a number of terrorist attacks were foiled by European intelligence agencies. One of the plots was against the Free Iran gathering that took place in June in Paris. Had it not been foiled, it could have been a major attack resulting in a large number of casualties and deaths.

This escalation shows that the Iranian regime is getting desperate as it is prepared to perpetrate bold attacks in Europe. However, the EU’s response to these attempts has been largely inadequate. Like the U.S., the EU needs to make it very clear that the regime will be held accountable.

Source: https://www.ncr-iran.org/en/blog/25977-u-s-continues-to-pressure-iran-regime

The post U.S. Continues to Pressure Iran Regime first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Tangsiri said Iran had full control of the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz that leads into it. Closing the strait would be the most direct way of blocking shipping.

“We can ensure the security of the Persian Gulf and there is no need for the presence of aliens like the U.S. and the countries whose home is not in here,” he said in the quote, which appeared in English translation on Tasnim.

He added, “All the carriers and military and non-military ships will be controlled and there is full supervision over the Persian Gulf. Our presence in the region is physical and constant and night and day.”

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the most senior authority in the Islamic Republic, said last month that he supported the idea that if Iran is not allowed to export oil then no country should export oil from the Gulf.

One-third of the world’s oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz.

Nextbigfuture opinion is that US will not recognize Iran’s control

The US will not recognize Iran’s control of the Strait.

If Iran tries to control US military ships then this would likely trigger a shooting conflict.

Iran’s forces versus US

Iran test-fired a ballistic missile last month. The test of an Iranian Fateh-110 short-range ballistic missile coincided with a large-scale naval exercise by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard forces late last week involving over 50 small gunboats in the Strait of Hormuz to rehearse “swarm” tactics which could one day potentially shut down the vital waterway.

Iran has previously harassed US Navy ships in the Persian Gulf and around the Strait of Hormuz, with the most notable case being Iran’s capture of 10 US Navy sailors in January 2016, who had drifted into Iranian waters after experiencing mechanical problems.

Iran has various anti-ship missiles. The Nasr-1 is a domestically-manufactured Iranian short range anti ship missile capable of evading radar. It has a range of about 35 kilometers (20 miles) It has the capability of destroying 1,500-tonne targets such as small warships like frigates. Nasr-1 missile can be launched from both inland bases and offshore military vessels, and is being modified to be fired from helicopters and submarines.

Iran has thousands of sea mines, torpedoes, advanced cruise missiles, regular-sized and mini-submarines, and its flotilla of small fast-attack boats.

When commanding CENTCOM between 2010 and 2013, now-Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis developed a multinational plan to minimize disruptions to maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz by preventing Iranian efforts to lay mines and systematically clear mines that have been deployed — assumed to be the major means to hinder traffic as it is difficult to sink a modern double-hull oil tanker by torpedo or missile attack. They would try to make larger paths through the minefields.

U.S. military planners believe that American and allied forces would defeat Iran if it attempted to close the Strait of Hormuz. The most optimistic planners believe U.S.-led forces could reopen the Strait within a few days while others think it could take up to three months to restore maritime traffic to normal levels.

Even in the optimistic scenario, an actual shooting war and conflict would spike oil over $100 per barrel even if a crisis was mostly resolved in days. In the short scenarios there is pipeline and other capacity and in the longer scenarios there are strategic reserves. A bigger crisis would be if a desperate Iran hit the Saudi Arabian Abqaiq oil processing facility. This would disrupt 7 million barrels per day until it was fixed.

There are US bases and US troops in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Turkey.

The US 5th Fleet is currently deployed in the Persian Gulf with carriers, ships, strike aircraft, sailors and marines and has been involved in periodic confrontations with Iranian forces.

According to the US Navy, from January 2016 to August 2017 there was an average of 2.5 interactions per month between US troops and Iranian maritime forces.

Iran’s navy mounted a locally-built advanced defensive weapons system on one of its warships for the first time.

Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi reiterated that coastal and sea testing of the short-range defense Kamand system was concluded successfully. The system will be mounted on a second ship soon.

SOURCES- Dailyoilbulletin, Reuters, PressTV

Source: https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2018/08/iran-claims-it-now-controls-the-straits-of-hormuz-and-this-could-trigger-us-iran-war.html

The post Iran claims it now controls the Straits of Hormuz and this could trigger US-Iran war first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.