New Delhi:The United States may launch a full-throttle attack on Iran as it continues to mobilise big weapons, including warships, jets, and others to surround Tehran. According to a report by Axios that quoted sources, it claims that an American attack on Iran could be launched sooner than its citizens may be speculating. The report further suggests that the United States may have been planning for a long haul, as the attack could stretch for several weeks, unlike in Venezuela, that lasted for only a day.
Reports claiming that United States is preparing for a full scale, weeks long attack on Iran has surfaced day after Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned America that they have more dangerous weapon than their (US) warships that will sink them into sea.
The United States has been mobilising warships including USS Abraham Lincoln, that is currently operating in the Arabian Sea. It has been tracked by satellite imagery around 150 miles off the coast of Oman. Another warship, USS Gerald R. Ford, that is considered as the world's largest, has also been deployed to the region.
Khamenei's threat and US' weapon mobilisation has come in the backdrop of indirect talks between US and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program, in Oman. US wants to dismantle Iran's nuclear build up, a demand Tehran terms as illegitimate, defending its action to develop nuclear technology purely for civil purpose.
With the US threatening to strike amid the massive nationwide anti-government protests that erupted in late December and January, Iran held a live-fire military drill in the Strait of Hormuz a few days ago. It warned ships of the drill at the time but did close the passage.
On February 4, tensions between the Iranian and US navies rose further after a US Navy fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that was approaching the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea. Iran also harassed a U.S.-flagged and U.S.-crewed merchant vessel that was sailing in the Strait of Hormuz, the US military reported.
Amid massive tension buildup, Iran says it temporarily closed parts of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf. The move came as semiofficial Iranian news agencies reported live fire exercises in the vital waterway, through which 20% of the world's oil passes.
The move is a rare, perhaps unprecedented shutdown of the strait, a signal from Iran of the potential fallout to the world economy if the United States goes through with threats to attack it as tensions mount between the two countries.
In past times of tension and conflict, Iran has at times harassed shipping though the narrows, and during the 1980s' Iran-Iraq war, both sides attacked tankers and other vessels, using naval mines to completely shut down traffic at points. But Iran has not carried out repeated threats to close the waterway altogether since the 1980s, even during last year's 12-day war when Israel and the US bombarded Iran's key nuclear and military sites.
Shashwat Bhandari is the Associate Editor at Times Now. With 14 years of experience in the news and media industry, he understands the responsibility...View More
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