Breaking - Gird Your Loins: Two More US Aircraft Carriers Headed For Persian Gulf; Nuke Sub In The Area?
(USS Ronald Reagan)
Go get `em! Get one for The Gipper!
Oh, those Dog Days of Summer … How they do have bite when provoked …
(onboard USS Lincoln)
‘Two U.S. Aircraft Carriers Head for Gulf Region’
Written by Adam Gonn - (The Media Line)
Two additional United States naval aircraft carriers are heading to the Gulf and the Red Sea, according to the Kuwaiti newspaper Kuwait Times.
Kuwait began finalizing its “emergency war plan” on being told the vessels were bound for the region.
The U.S. Navy will neither confirm nor deny that carriers are currently en route. U.S. Fifth Fleet Combined Maritime Command located in Bahrain said it could not comment because of what a spokesman termed “force-protection policy.”
While the Kuwaiti daily did not name the ships it believes are heading for the Middle East, The Media Line’s defense analyst said they could be the USS Theodore Roosevelt and the USS Ronald Reagan.
Within the last month, the Roosevelt completed an exercise along the U.S. east coast focusing on communication among navies of different countries. It has since been declared ready for operational duties. The Reagan, currently with the Seventh Fleet, has just set sail from Japan.
The Seventh Fleet area of operation stretches from the East Coast of Africa to the International Date Line.
Meanwhile, the Arabic news agency Moheet reported at the end of July that an unnamed American destroyer, accompanied by two Israeli naval vessels traveled through the Suez Canal from the Mediterranean. A week earlier, a U.S. nuclear submarine accompanied by a destroyer and a supply ship moved into the Mediterranean, according to Moheet.
Currently there are two U.S. naval battle groups operating in the Gulf: one is an aircraft carrier group, led by the USS Abraham Lincoln, which carries some 65 fighter aircraft. The other group is headed by the USS Peleliu which maintains a variety of planes and strike helicopters.
The ship movements coincide with the latest downturn in relations between Washington and Tehran. The U.S. and Iran are at odds over Iran’s nuclear program, which the Bush administration claims is aimed at producing material for nuclear weapons; however, Tehran argues it is only for power generation.
Kuwait, like other Arab countries in the Gulf, fears it will be caught in the middle should the U.S. decide to launch an air strike against Iran if negotiations fail. The Kuwaitis are finalizing details of their security, humanitarian and vital services, the newspaper reported.
The six members of the GCC – Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and Oman – lie just across the Gulf from Iran. Generals in the Iranian military have repeatedly warned that American interests in the region will be targeted if Iran is subjected to any military strike by the U.S. or its Western allies.
Bahrain hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet, while there is a sizeable American base in Qatar. It is assumed the U.S. also has military personnel in the other Gulf states, TML’s defense analyst said.
Iran is thought to have intelligence operatives working in the GCC states, according to Dubai-based military analysts.
The standoff between the U.S. and Iran has left the Arab nations’ political leaders in something of a bind. The TML analyst said they were being used as pawns by Washington and Tehran.
Iran is offering them economic and industrial sweeteners, while the U.S. is boosting their defense capabilities. Presidents George W. Bush and Mahmoud Ahmadi Nejad have paid visits to the GCC states in a bid to win their support.
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Knock, Knock….can Ahmadickwad come out and play?
Time for talking is evaporating quickly.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:56 am…soon your sky will darken with our machines of war…
August 7th, 2008 at 10:01 amAhmadickinajacket’s buffoonery is getting him nowhere, he has reached the point of no return painting Tehran into a corner.
Both he and the Revolutionary Guards are going to instigate this, and I don’t think it will be so bad in Iraq, because the Iraqi people generally have no love for the Iranians. It may be a little rough in the coming months, but Iran will bite off more than it can chew in this deal.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:06 amI have been a skeptic lately of whether or not we would take action against Iran any time soon, but if this is true it would be undeniable evidence. there are multiple sources for this news so it seems now the ‘writing is on the wall’.
Israeli buys 90 F-16s and now this. these carriers are not moving over there because of Iraq. that war is pretty much over now.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:30 amI’m sure it’s just a little muscle-flexing to try to persuade them to “negotiate”. I would be VERY surprised if military action is taken before the election. Actually, I’ll be surprised if it’s taken at all because I’ve about given up hope that the will to stop Iran is really out there. Israel can’t do it on its own.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:45 amMaybe. These concentrations of multiple carrier groups around and in the Persian Gulf have happened before. I think it is more a way of conditioning Iran to their presence so as to not tip them off before the real hammer falls.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:46 amLone Wolf
you do have a point there. they rotated most of the carriers out some months back i think. but maybe them bringing them back in could be a sign.
mostly im just looking for some kind of hope here. I fear they will wait too long and a nuclear Iran would be nothing like a nuclear North Korea, they have no intentions of using the bomb. Iran has every intention of using them.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:58 amOh my gosh! A NEU-CLEE-AIR submarine!
Pretty much 100% of our naval submarines are nuclear power, as are our air-craft carriers. And they have operated like that since the 1950s with NO nuclear related accidents at all.
What’s the point of calling it a nuclear sub? Just call it an attack sub, or a ballistic missle sub (boomer).
NEU-CLEE-AIR… SCAIRRRRY.
JS
August 7th, 2008 at 11:00 amIs it time for the Big Stick…and what did old Arab from Lybia just say to the Idiot Iranian Mullets? Beware that is one mean dog!
August 7th, 2008 at 2:14 pmIsrael can too do it on it’s own. They can vaporize the Iranian military with low yield tactical nukes, if it comes right down to it. At a minimum, that’s exactly what Hezbollah is going to get.
August 7th, 2008 at 2:39 pmWe’ve been rotating battle groups in and out of the Gulf and Red Sea for what seems like forever. This must be the current group’s relief.
Nuclear subs? If there is a carrier around, there is a sub or two not far away.
No big deal here.
August 7th, 2008 at 3:05 pmFun time at the beach! If it happens, Lock and Load for your local Jihadi uprising.
August 7th, 2008 at 4:35 pmSubs are part of a carrier force. All our submarines are nuclear powered. Our last diesel was in the 80’s.
August 7th, 2008 at 4:35 pmIf the Israelis attack, our forces would probably be there to shoot down anything the Iranians might retaliate with.
August 7th, 2008 at 5:09 pmThe Israelis have access to Iragi airspace.
It doesnt say the Carriers are rotating out. Maybe they are reinforcing.
Maybe they could accidently overshoot Iran and bomb northern Paksitan.
I can’t wait til they bomb out Ahmadinawackjob
August 8th, 2008 at 1:22 amDan (The Infidel),
I hope you are right. I haven’t seen a post from any family members of sailors who are in one of those battle groups. As the mom of a sailor on one of these carriers, I pray this is just routine and our “guys” are back home when they are supposed to be.
August 8th, 2008 at 3:47 am