Iran warned Tuesday that it would follow an attack on their country with an attack of it’s own against western countries and targets in the region.
Partly in response to the posturing of the Israeli military, and U.S. and Israeli threats,
Iran’s Elite Revolutionary Guards test-fired nine long- and medium-range missiles today during war games. The Guards and Iran's regular army routinely hold exercises two or three times a year.
“The exercise will demonstrate our resolve and might against enemies who in recent weeks have threatened Iran with a harsh language."
- General Hossein Salami, Air Force Commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards
In June, Israel's military sent warplanes over the eastern Mediterranean for a large military exercise that U.S. officials described as a possible rehearsal for a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, which the U.S. suspects are for production of nuclear weapons. It has been speculated that the
U.S. and Israel are indeed planning an attack on Iranian nuclear sites. Iran says its nuclear program is geared only toward generating electricity, not weapons.
"The Iranian regime only furthers the isolation of the Iranian people from the international community when it engages in this sort of activity. They should also refrain from further missile tests if they truly seek to gain the trust of the world.”
- Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the National Security Council speaking from Japan where President Bush is attending the G8 summit.
The war games were being conducted at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway where about 40 percent of the world's oil passes through. This could be in response to
Vice Admiral. Kevin Cosgriff, the commander of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, said any attempt by Iran to seal off the Strait of Hormuz would be viewed as an act of war. The U.S. 5th Fleet is based in Bahrain, across the Gulf from Iran. Admiral Cosgriff was also the Commander who warned in January, 2008 that
Iranian gun-boats were almost fired upon by U.S. warships.
“Israel does not desire hostility and conflict with Iran. But it is clear that the Iranian nuclear program and the Iranian ballistic missile program is a matter of grave concern."
- Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev
A senior Iranian official, Ali Shirazi,
warned that any military attack by Israel or the United States would be met with a ‘crushing response.’ Neither the U.S. or Israel had an immediate response to that statement.
