Iran to Hold New War Games in Strait of Hormuz

TEHRAN - Iran is to hold fresh military exercises in and around the strategic Strait of Hormuz within weeks, the naval commander of its powerful Revolutionary Guards was quoted as saying Jan. 6.

The maneuvers are to be held in the Iranian calendar month that runs from Jan. 21 to Feb. 19, the Fars news agency quoted Ali Fadavi as saying.

They will underline Iran's assertion that it has "full control over the Strait of Hormuz area and controls all movements in it," Fadavi added.

The announcement - which narrowed down a timeframe for the exercises the Guards had previously only given as "soon" - risked aggravating tensions with the West over the strait.

The waterway is the world's "most important chokepoint" for oil tankers, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administrations. Some 20 percent of the world's oil flows through the narrow channel at the entrance to the Gulf.

Iran's regular navy completed 10 days of war games to the east of the strait, in the Gulf of Oman, early this week with tests of three anti-ship missiles.

Iran's military and political leaders have warned they could close the strait if increased Western sanctions halt Iranian oil exports.

The navy has also warned it will react if the United States tries to redeploy one of its aircraft carriers to the waterway.

The Revolutionary Guards, who use high-speed skiffs mounted with missile launchers and other lightweight vessels, periodically hold maneuvers in and around the Strait of Hormuz.

The last ones took place in July 2011 and included the firing of several anti-ship missiles, including two Khalij Fars missiles with a range of 190 miles.

Fadavi did not give details of the new maneuvers.

"The 7th in the series of Great Prophet Maneuvers will be conducted in the area of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz. They will have significant differences from the previous ones," Fars quoted him as saying.

Israel and U.S. to Hold Joint Missile Drill

JERUSALEM - Israel and the United States are to hold a joint missile defense exercise, the Israeli military said late Jan. 5.

Although the exercise, codenamed "Austere Challenge 12," comes at a time of spiraling regional tensions over Iran's suspected nuclear arms program, the army said the maneuvers were planned in advance.

"The exercise scenario involves notional, simulated events as well as some field training and is not in response to any real-world event," the military said in a written response to an AFP query

"The U.S. European Command and the Israel Defence Forces periodically conduct routine exercises in Israel. These exercises, which are part of along-standing strategic partnership, are planned in advance and part of a routine training cycle designed to improve the interoperability of our defence systems."

It did not say when the exercise would take place. Local media said that it would get underway in the spring and would be the biggest ever joint maneuvers between the two allies.

Israel and the United States have a longstanding strategic alliance and are jointly developing the Arrow anti ballistic missile system.

In November the Jewish state staged a major civil defense drill in the Tel Aviv region aimed at simulating a response to conventional and non-conventional missile attacks.

Although Iran says its nuclear program is for civilian use only, the international community believes it is striving to acquire nuclear arms and Israel says that it is a prime target of the Islamic republic.

Iran has threatened to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world's oil flows, if it is hit with sanctions, and has warned the United States not to send an aircraft carrier back into the Gulf.

Last week it test-fired three missiles during war games east of the strait at the entrance to the Gulf.

U.S. To Drop Long-War Ability, Focus on Pacific

The Pentagon will abandon its ability to fight long, drawn-out wars like the ones fought in Afghanistan and Iraq as it enters the next decade.

IN AN EIGHT-PAGE document detailing a new U.S. defense strategy, the Pentagon said the U.S. military will shrink in size and will focus its efforts on the Pacific. (File photo / U.S. Air Force)

Instead, the size of the U.S. military will shrink, as expected, and the Pentagon will focus its efforts on the Pacific as China's military and influence in the region grows, according to the eight-page strategy designed to inform more than $450 billion in cuts to planned defense spending over the next decade.

The president also said the Defense Department will re-examine its mix of active-component and reserve troops, with the expectation that reserves will continue to play the prominent role they have during the past decade.

The strategy backs the Air Force's new bomber program, which the service had lobbied for extensively during the last year.

In addition, the strategy notes the United States is "investing in a long-term strategic partnership with India."

The Pentagon will abandon its long-time ability to fight two major wars simultaneously but will still be able to deny an aggressor in a second region while already engaged in another.

In Europe, the U.S. military posture will "evolve," however, the strategy does not say how.

The military will reduce its nuclear weapons stockpile, but the strategy does not mention specific weapons programs.

President Barack Obama is scheduled to discuss the strategy during a late morning briefing at the Pentagon. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other senior defense officials are also scheduled to appear.

The Pentagon also plans to cut overhead, headquarters and other support spending, though the strategy does not propose specific cuts. The strategy says defense must find further efficiencies in its business practices.

Defense also plans to reduce the growth of compensation and health-care costs, though the strategy said "we will keep faith with those who serve."

South Korea, U.S. To Boost Guard Against North

SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea and the United States will soon sign a new plan on countering any North Korean attacks, Seoul said Jan. 4 amid international wariness over the abrupt leadership transition in Pyongyang.

"We believe there remains a possibility of provocations by the North during the power succession to Kim Jong Un," deputy defense minister Lim Kwan Bin told reporters.

The ministry said the South Korean military, in response to any attack, would ensure "the enemy threat, the source of the provocation and its supporting forces are completely removed".

The North has hailed Kim as "great successor" and appointed him military chief since his father and longtime leader Kim Jong Il died suddenly on Dec. 17.

Hopes that cross-border tensions might ease have not so far materialized, and some analysts believe the untested son, aged in his late 20s, may try to bolster his credentials by staging a limited border incident.

The new regime has already vowed retaliation against Seoul for alleged disrespect during the mourning period for Kim and vowed never to deal with its current conservative government.

More than 100,000 people rallied Jan. 3 in Pyongyang in support of Kim Jong Un, the North's state media reported. It also released footage of his visit Jan. 1 to an armored division.

The South's defense ministry, in a policy document for 2012, said the allies would sign the joint counter-provocation plan this month, as agreed last October.

U.S. and South Korean troops already hold regular annual joint exercises.

"Once the joint operational (counter-provocation) plan is signed, we will engage in more exercises that will help us execute it," Lim said. "It will specify how such exercises should be held."

The two Koreas have remained technically at war since their 1950-53 conflict ended only with a ceasefire. The United States has based troops in the South ever since and now has 28,500 in the country.

Cross-border tensions have been high since the South accused the North of torpedoing a warship with the loss of 46 lives in March 2010.

Pyongyang denied involvement but eight months later shelled an island near the tense Yellow Sea border and killed four South Koreans.

South Korea has since strengthened troops and weaponry on its "frontline" islands.

In Washington, the State Department said Jan. 3 that the North's stated refusal to engage with South Korea bodes ill for efforts to revive six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear disarmament.

"That's not going to be conducive to getting back to the table," said spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

The North said last week it would never have dealings "with the Lee Myung Bak group of traitors", in a reference to the South's president.

Nuland said the North should improve ties with the South and show its commitment to denuclearization before the six-party talks can resume.

The talks - chaired by China and involving the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia - have been at a standstill since the last round in December 2008.

Iran Renews Warning to U.S. on Aircraft Carriers

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran on Jan. 4 renewed its warning to America against keeping a U.S. Navy presence in the oil-rich Persian Gulf, underlining a threat that Washington has dismissed as a sign of "weakness" from Tehran.

"The presence of forces from beyond the [Gulf] region has no result but turbulence. We have said the presence of forces from beyond the region in the Persian Gulf is not needed and is harmful," Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said, according to state television's website.

"The long-term presence of the United States in the region increases insecurity and the possibility of tensions and of confrontation," the deputy chief of Iran's forces, Masoud Jazayeri, said, according to the Revolutionary Guards website.

"As a result ... the United States must leave the region," Jazayeri said.

Jazayeri noted the exit of the U.S. aircraft carrier John C. Stennis from the Gulf last week and said: "Since you've gone, don't come back, otherwise you'll be responsible for any problems."

The comments echoed a Jan. 3 warning that Iran would unleash its "full force" if a U.S. carrier is redeployed to the Gulf.

"We don't have the intention of repeating our warning, and we warn only once," Brig. Gen. Ataollah Salehi, the armed forces chief, said as he told Washington to keep its carrier out of the Gulf.

The White House on Jan. 3 brushed off the warning, saying it "reflects the fact that Iran is in a position of weakness" as it struggles under international sanctions.

The U.S. Defense Department said it would not alter its deployment of warships to the Gulf.

Iran has just finished 10 days of navy war games near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, at the entrance of the Gulf, meant to show it was capable of controlling the channel and closing it if necessary. Twenty percent of the world's oil ships through the strait.

The exercises climaxed on Jan. 2 with the Iranian navy test-firing three types of missile designed to sink warships.

The head of Iran's parliamentary national security and foreign policy commission, Aladdin Borujerdi, was quoted by the Fars news agency saying the U.S. description of Iran being weak "is a completely illogical stance."

He added: "The U.S. talks about sanctioning our oil but they should know that if Iran's oil exports from the Persian Gulf are sanctioned, then no-one will have the right to export oil through the Strait of Hormuz."

The developments have helped send the prices of oil soaring, though they pulled back a little on Jan. 4. Brent North Sea crude contracts in London were selling for $111.58 per barrel. New York trading of West Texas Intermediate crude was at $102.30 per barrel.

The Pentagon said in a statement it would continue the rotation of its 11 aircraft carriers to the Gulf to support military operations in the region and keep the Strait of Hormuz open.

"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," it said in a statement.

The increasingly tense situation in the Gulf was taking place as Iran struggled with turmoil on its domestic currency market.

Foreign exchange shops on Jan. 4 were shuttered as traders refused to comply with a central bank order putting an artificial cap on the value of the dollar against the Iranian rial, which has come under intense pressure in recent days.

The central bank also cut in half, to $1,000, the amount of dollars travelers flying abroad could buy.

Iranian authorities were trying to shore up their currency following its slide to a record low Jan. 2, days after the United States enacted new sanctions targeting Iran's central bank.

Tehran, however, insisted the volatility of the rial was not because of sanctions.

It "definitely has nothing to do with sanctions," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Jan. 3.

The United States and other Western nations have imposed sanctions on Iran's economy over Tehran's controversial nuclear program, which they believe is being used to develop atomic weapons. Iran has repeatedly denied that allegation, saying the program is purely for energy and medical uses.

Iran Keeps Tensions High Over Oil Strait

TEHRAN - Iran kept tensions simmering Dec. 31 over its threat to close the Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers by readying war game missile tests near the entrance to the Persian Gulf.

AN IRANIAN WAR-BOAT fires a missile Dec. 30 during the 'Velayat-90' navy exercises in the Strait of Hormuz. (Ali Mohammadi / AFP via Getty Images)

Washington has warned a closure of the strait "will not be tolerated" after Iranian Vice President Reza Rahimi's threat this week that "not a drop of oil" will pass through the channel if more Western sanctions are imposed over Tehran's nuclear program.

Iran has brushed off the warning from the United States, which bases its Fifth Fleet in the Gulf, with Iranian navy chief Adm. Habibollah Sayari saying it would be "really easy" to close the strait.

A spokesman for the Iranian navy, Commodore Mahmoud Mousavi, told state television on Dec. 31 that, "in the next days, we will test-fire all kinds of surface-to-sea, sea-to-sea and surface-to-air as well as shoulder-launched missiles" in the final stages of the war games.

He did not say exactly when the launches would start, but explained they would involve tests of "medium- and long-range missiles" to evaluate their operational effectiveness.

The navy exercises started Dec. 24 and are due to end on Jan. 2.

Twenty percent of the world's oil moves through the Strait of Hormuz, at the entrance of the Gulf, making it the "most important chokepoint" globally, according to information released Dec. 30 by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Around 14 crude oil tankers per day pass through the narrow strait, carrying a total 17 million barrels. In all, 35 percent of all seaborne oil transited through there this year.

On Dec. 29, a U.S. aircraft carrier and an accompanying missile cruiser passed through the zone where the Iranian navy was conducting its drill. U.S. officials insisted it was a routine passage.

No confrontation occurred, though an Iranian military aircraft flew in close to record video of the aircraft carrier, which was then shown on state television.

Analysts and oil market traders have been watching developments in and around the Strait of Hormuz carefully, fearing that the intensifying war of words between arch foes Tehran and Washington could spark open confrontation.

With tensions rising, the United States said it has signed a $29.4-billion dealto supply Iran's chief rival in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, with 84 new fighter jets.

The sale was a "strong message" to the Gulf region, Washington said.

Iran is subject to four rounds of U.N. sanctions over its nuclear program, which many Western countries allege is being used to develop atomic weapons.

Tehran denies the allegation.

The United States and its allies have also imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran's economy.

The last lot of unilateral sanctions triggered a demonstration in Tehran that led to members of the Basij militia controlled by the Revolutionary Guards ransacking the British embassy. London reacted by closing the mission and ordering Iran's embassy in Britain closed.

More sanctions are on the way.

U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to soon sign into law additional restrictions on Iran's central bank, which acts as the main conduit for Iranian oil sales.

The European Union is considering other measures that could include an EU embargo on Iranian oil imports, with foreign ministers to meet on the issue in a month's time.

Iran's oil minister, Rostam Qasemi, told the Aseman weekly that sanctions "will drive up the price of oil to at least 200 dollar" per barrel.

Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, was quoted by the Iranian media telling Islamic republic's envoys who have been gathered in Tehran that "we will give a resounding and many-pronged response to any threat against the Islamic Republic of Iran."

But he and other officials also left the door open to resuming long-stalled talks on Iran's nuclear program.

Addressing world powers involved in the talks, Jalili said: "We officially told them to come back to the negotiation based on cooperation."

Iran's ambassador to Germany, Alireza Sheikh-Attar, told the Mehr news agency on Dec. 31 that "we will soon send a letter, after which (new) talks will be scheduled."

Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi was also quoted by a website of the state broadcaster as telling a visiting Chinese foreign ministry official that "Iran is prepared for the continuation of nuclear negotiations" on the basis of a Russian proposal.

Russia Hands Over Nuke Sub Nerpa to India: Report

MOSCOW - Russia has handed over the nuclear-powered attack submarine Nerpa to India following more than two years of delays, a senior naval official was quoted as saying Dec. 30.

A 2004 FILE photo shows the Akula-class Vepr Russian nuclear submarine, the same type as the Nerpa sub Russia handed over to India on Dec. 30 following more than two years of delays. (Fred Tanneau / AFP)

"The signing ceremony happened yesterday at the Bolshoi Kamen ship building facility in the (Far East) Primorye region where the Nerpa is now based," the official in the naval chief of staff told ITAR-TASS.

Russian reports said an Indian crew would sail the Akula II class craft to its home base at the end of January after receiving it on a 10-year lease that has angered India's arch-rival Pakistan and resulted in retaliation threats.

The craft is due to reach its Bay of Bengal base of Visakhapatnam under the Indian flag in February and be commissioned by the navy in March.

"All of the naval tests and performance checks have been completed," the Russian official said. "The crew will begin making themselves feel at home on board the craft after New Year and start sailing it to India in the latter half of January."

An unnamed Russian official at the Amur district facility where the Nerpa was built added that the "Indian side is fully satisfied by the volume and quality of the tests" completed on the Nerpa at sea.

The Nerpa will be the first nuclear-powered submarine to be operated by India in nearly two decades after it decommissioned its last such Soviet-built vessel in 1991.

India is completing the development of its own Arihant-classnuclear-powered ballistic submarines and the Nerpa's delivery is expected to help crews train for the domestic boat's introduction into service next year.

The Russian Pacific port ceremony was held on the same day that a shipyard fire engulfed the Northern Fleet's Yekaterinburg nuclear-powered strategic submarine in the Murmansk region on the opposite side of the country.

The Nerpa had initially been due to be handed over to India in 2009 but experienced various problems during testing. It suffered a mishap during trials in the Sea of Japan in November 2008 that killed 20 sailors when a fire extinguisher released a deadly chemical that was accidentally loaded into the system.

Media reports said that some of the ship's equipment malfunctioned during testing and that the weapons navigation system did not work to India's specifications.

The 8,140-ton vessel can fire a range of torpedoes as well as Granat cruise missiles that can be nuclear-tipped. India has promised not to arm the submarine with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles under its obligations to international treaties it adopted after conducting a series of atomic tests in the 1990s.

But the craft's delivery has still upset Pakistan.

"Rest assured, there will be no compromise in terms of maintaining the credibility of our deterrence," Pakistan foreign office spokesman Abdul Basit was quoted as saying by The Asian Age newspaper this week.

The submarine is due to be commissioned as the INS Chakra in India under a2004 agreement that has seen the South Asian giant pay $650 million in construction costs.

Newspaper reports in India said New Delhi may end up paying as much as $900 million under the terms of the deal. Russia's RIA Novosti news agencies valued the contract at $920 million.

Russia supplies 70 percent of India's military hardware but New Delhi has been unhappy about delays to arms orders from Moscow and has looked to other suppliers including Israel and the United States in recent years.

Iran to Test-Fire Missiles in Hormuz War Games

TEHRAN - Iran, which has been carrying out war games in the Strait of Hormuz over the past week, is to test fire shorter- and longer-range missiles in the key oil waterway on Dec. 31, the navy said.

"Shorter- and longer-range, ground-to-sea, surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles will be tested on Saturday," the ISNA news agency quoted navy spokesman Commodore Mahmoud Mousavi on Dec. 30.

The move is likely to stoke tensions between Tehran and Washington, already running high over a warning by Iran this week that "not a drop of oil" would pass through the strait if Western governments followed through with planned additional sanctions over its nuclear program.

The U.S. State Department said Dec. 29 that Iran's threat to close the waterway, through which more than a third of the world's tanker-borne oil passes, exhibited "irrational behavior" and "will not be tolerated."

The naval maneuvers launched by Iran in the strait on Dec. 24 have so far included mine-laying and the use of aerial drones, according to Iranian media.

Analysts and oil market traders have been watching developments in and around the Strait of Hormuz carefully, fearing that the intensifying war of words between arch foes Tehran and Washington could spark open confrontation.

U.S. Warships Cross Hormuz Despite Iran Threats

WASHINGTON - Two American warships have crossed through the Strait of Hormuz without incident despite Iranian threats to close the strategic oil route, the U.S. Navy said Dec. 29.

THE U.S. AIRCRAFT carrier Stennis is seen where Iranian ships are conducting 10 days of wargames in the Persian Gulf, accoridng to Iranian officials. (Fars News / AFP via Getty Images)

The aircraft carrier John C. Stennis and the guided-missile cruiser Mobile Bay "conducted a pre-planned, routine transit through the Strait of Hormuz" on Dec. 27, said Fifth Fleet spokeswoman Lt. Rebecca Rebarich.

The U.S. military reported no friction with Iran's naval forces after Iranian leaders warned of possibly shutting down the vital strait if the West went ahead with more punitive sanctions over its suspect nuclear program.

"Our interaction with the regular Iranian Navy continues to be within the standards of maritime practice, well-known, routine and professional," Rebarich said in an email from Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain.

The U.S. warships paid a visit to the port of Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates before traveling through the strait to the Arabian Sea, where the vessels will provide air power for NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, she said.

In response to Tehran's threats, the U.S. military said Dec. 28 that any attempt to disrupt shipping in the Strait of Hormuz would not be tolerated.

The U.S. aircraft carrier and cruiser made their through the narrow channel as Iran's navy was carrying out war games to the east of the Strait of Hormuz in a show of military might.

Iran's navy commander, Adm. Habibollah Sayari, said the aircraft carrier was monitored as it passed through the strait to the Gulf of Oman, according to Iranian state television.

The strait is a choke point at the entrance to the Gulf through which more than a third of the world's tanker-borne oil passes.

Although Iran could lay mines to disrupt shipping through the narrow channel, Tehran relies on the route for its own oil exports and analysts say the Islamic republic is unlikely to take such drastic steps.