Iran counters Israeli and American saber rattling, says they might deploy military ships off US East Coast
By Madison Ruppert
Editor of End the Lie
Iranian Navy vessels in the Persian Gulf (Credit: IRNA)
According to the official Iranian state media agency (IRNA) the head of the Iranian Navy, Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, has threatened to send military ships off the Atlantic Coast of the United States, representing a marked increase in tensions between Washington and Tehran.
Sayyari reportedly said, “Like the arrogant powers that are present near our marine borders, we will also have a powerful presence close to American marine borders”.
Interestingly, this came in the wake of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization announcing that they will triple the size of an air base near the Iranian border in Afghanistan.
There are many factors that likely influenced the decision to make this statement publicly, so let’s look at a few possibilities.
Late last month I published an article about Israel urging Western nations to present Iran with a credible military threat, which in fact the United States is doing right now.
This antagonizing call from Israel likely did little to reassure Iran that Israel and her Western allies are simply trying to keep the peace.
Furthermore, Turkey just recently announced that they would host the NATO radar system which will, with the help of a plethora of anti-missile defense systems, allegedly be used to spot and disable missile threats from outside Europe from nations like Iran and North Korea.
This system has not only irked Iran but also raised considerable tensions with Russia as they have legitimate concerns over how it will actually be utilized.
Russia has requested that the United States and NATO enter a legally binding agreement saying the system will not be used against Russia but they have been met with stern refusal.
Reuters also points out that if diplomacy fails in getting Iran to stop getting nuclear weapons; America and Israel have not taken the prospect of a military strike off the table.
However, Iran says that their nuclear program is for purely peaceful purposes and despite plenty of fearmongering from Israel and the US, there is zero evidence that conflicts with Tehran’s repeated assurances.
According to Reuters, Iran dismissed Israeli and American threats by saying that if such a strike were to occur they will respond by attacking American interests in the Persian Gulf as well as Israel, which has been claiming that Iran is planning to attack them for years.
Reuters also cites unnamed “analysts” who claim that Iran could carry out hit-and-run attacks in the Persian Gulf and by closing off the Strait of Hormuz.
American interests in the Persian Gulf are plentiful and roughly 40% of all traded oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz, so if Tehran were able to successfully carry out such an operation US national interests could be severely impacted.
Then again, we must realize there are plentiful American allies in the region and we have plenty of launching points in areas surrounding Iran from which we could easily attack.
The Iranian Navy official, Sayyari, did not give any more insight into how many vessels could be deployed or what type of vessels they would be. He also did not give any details on when this mobilization could occur.
One important thing worth noting is that if Sayyari is serious and this actually occurs, this could easily justify a massive preemptive strike against Iran. This would be not only against Iranian ships but against their domestic military facilities and nuclear facilities as well.
Just think of how the Bush regime justified invading Iraq based on false intelligence of non-existent Weapons of Mass Destruction. Can you imagine how swift Washington would be to strike Iran if they actually positioned ships off of one of our coasts?
What do you think? Is Iran just flexing in an attempt to fight back against the constant real or imagined threat from Israel and the United States? Or is Iran actually announcing a plan to mobilize off of the US’s East Coast? I would love to hear what you think via email at [email protected].
Madison Ruppert is a Los Angeles-based independent journalist and researcher as well as the founder, owner, administrator and editor of EndtheLie.com. He has no affiliations with any government agencies, political parties, non-governmental organizations, or economic schools. He is available for freelance writing assignments and appearances or interviews in any format. He can be reached by emailing
Iran will not dare. They saw what happened to Gaddafi for all his ignorant ranting. They see what happened to Osama and to anyone else who has performed acts of terror against the US.
Irans best bet is to station more ships around Strait of Hormuz and in Syria. This will piss the Americans off but it want justify military action. At least not right away.
Eventually this entire episode will explode and its in Irans best interests to stretch the start of the conflict out as long as possible and use this time to better their relationships with China, Russia and Turkey.
Silly question.
Amercia has lots of its forces spread all over the world and is currently using up large amounts of its and europe weapons attacking Libya. Its troops have been on constant rotation in Iraq and Afghanistan, so presumably are exhausted.
Has Iran does some calculations on the proverbial napkin and figured out that American troops may be so thinly spread that they do not have any at home to defend their nation.
If so then this is a very clever move, as to defend home they will have to move troops away from whomever they are likely to attack next!
Nah, it would be a brilliant PR coup for the American Govt and would give them perfect excuse to bomb Persia back a few years.
Strategically the Middle East is more important to their control of the entire world than a few cities on the East Coast, and some more martyrs for capitalism would play into their hands greatly.
Please help me realize if what my thinking is makes sense:
Iran will attack Israel as promised if given enough time. No secret as Iran has made this abundantly clear.
If Israel sits and waits…many of them die and from here it is unclear if world war breaks out. Does the US get involved if Israel is destroyed?
If Israel is proactive, which it sounds like they will be and strikes Iran first the US has the option to defend Israel. If they defend Israel will Russian and China (and Syria & North Korea and who knows who else), then attack the US?
I guess what I am saying is – my logic tells me that this is all imminent. It is just – who is going to hit who first…Israel or Iran. I personally think this is the beginning of WWIII because so many other Countries are so involved with these two places and will rush to defend. The only way to avoid WWIII is to see no other Country get involved. How likely is this?
With regard to the above posts…I think Iran has been deploying ships to Syria as a way to take advantage of the uprisings in this region of our world. I mean come on…you have Iran saying, “You go protesters..you have a right to speak up.” Yet they killed their own protesters. It is just so in our faces. This is not normal by any means (Iran sending ships to Syria) but it is like the frog in hot water…boiling so slowly and not realizing the end result. ? Maybe but hopefully the big thinkers in WA have an ingenious solution that I have not been able to think up. Sure they would send their ships over here…they have China and Russia to back them and think we are a bunch of dumb ass people who don’t see their games.
I see no solution and no alternative….unless all players just let Iran and Israel go at it and leave them alone come what may. How sad that would be (unethical even), and also how unlikely. It just seems that we are on the verge of another world war.
Saw the headline while trawling the interwebs, the claim is laughable at best. What military ships could Iran send to menace the American eastern seaboard? a coupla WWII-era destroyers? some light patrol frigates? The Iranian Navy’s strength has always been its front yard, the Persian Gulf, a narrow and shallow arena where its small missile boats and Kilo-class diesel submarines are at their best against larger blue-water combatants. Put a Kilo off Virginia and it’ll be easy prey for American nuclear boats. There’s no way any Iranian vessel could leave the Gulf without being tracked, either. Also, he picture accompanying this story, accredited to the IRNA, does not depict “Iranian Navy vessels in the Persian Gulf.” Those are actually American Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers, which would blow any Iranian adversary out of the water.
Twitter: endtheliedotcom
November 7, 2011 at 2:17 PM
I agree it seems like posturing and nothing more. Can you provide a link showing what kind of ship it actually is? I just took the description that accompanied the original photo. If you’re correct that means the Iranian state news agency doesn’t know what their own ships look like!