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From Al Arabia news:

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/01/08/187141.html

Deployment of thousands of U.S. troops in Israel, a start of war against Iran?



By Dina al-Shibeeb
Al Arabiya
As the Middle East roils in crisis when a U.S. aircraft carrier entered a zone near the world’s most important choke point for oil shipments, the Strait of Hormuz, also an offshore region that Iran threatened to close if the United States raises sanctions against the Islamic Republic, the deployment of thousands of U.S. troops in Israel has raised speculations of an imminent war.

On December 20, the Jerusalem Post newspaper reported Lt.-Gen. Frank Gorenc, commander of the U.S.’s Third Air Force based in Germany, as saying that there will be a deployment of several thousand American soldiers in Israel.

An Egypt-based military expert, major general Jamal Mathloum, said that “there is a military strategic cooperation between the U.S. and Israel since the 1980s and there is definitely mutual understanding,” adding that the U.S. troops deployment might not necessarily mean a direct signal of war, but could be read as Israel and U.S. readiness in case of a conflict arising in the region.

“There is already a U.S. radar station in southern Israel, and might as well contain from 500 to 700 American soldier operating there,” Mathloum said.
But for Abdulaziz Sager, chairman and founder of the Gulf Research Center in Dubai, the deployment of U.S. troops in Israel is “definitely to send a clear signal to Iran.”

Sager said that there is a U.S.-Israel defense agreement that makes defending the Jewish state an obligation to the United States. In addition to that, U.S.
President Barack Obama said in his last AIPAC meeting that the United States does not rule out any option against Iran if it had to.

According to debka.com, an Israeli website that provides political and security analysis, about 9,000 U.S. soldiers have already arrived in Israel.

But Mathloum said this figure remains insignificant of compared to the more than 100,000 American soldiers dispersed in 1,000 U.S. bases worldwide.

Lt.-Gen. Gorenc’s announcement came as he was visiting Israel to finalize plans for the upcoming drill, which is considered to be unprecedented in its size.

There will also be an establishment of U.S. command posts in Israel and IDF command posts at EUCOM headquarters in Germany – with the ultimate goal of establishing joint task forces in the event of a large-scale conflict in the Middle East, the newspaper reported.


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UK sending warships to tackle Iran’s move to close Strait of Hormuz

Posted by Mohan Ramraj on January 8, 2012 in Exclusive, News, World · 0 Comments

London, Jan 8 (TruthDive): The United Kingdom on Saturday revealed that it is planning to send warships to the Persian Gulf. The move comes after Iran threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz. Many western powers criticized Iran and even imposed sanctions. Iran plans to conduct military drills in the strait in February under the name “The Great Prophet.”

The UK Ministry of Defense described the deployment of the HMS Daring as “long-planned” and “entirely routine.” The destroyer will replace a frigate stationed in the area, it said.

In the past two weeks, there were tensions across the Persian Gulf after Iran launched a 10-day drill in the strait in late December with both U.S. and British defense officials repeatedly condemned any move by Iran to close the strait, the only outlet from the Persian Gulf and a key trade route for oil. The strait is a critical shipping lane, through which 17 million barrels of oil passed per day in 2011, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency.

Iran threatened in late December to block the strait, if sanctions were imposed on its oil exports. France, Britain, and Germany have all proposed such sanctions to punish Iran for lack of cooperation on its nuclear program.

Rear Adm. Ali Fadavi, of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said last month the world could not last 24 hours without Persian Gulf oil, and that Iran is capable of closing the strait.

“Today, out of the 1,300 billion barrels of oil in the world, 800 billion barrels are in the Persian Gulf,” Fadavi told.

The U.S. Navy said the threat to block the strait is unacceptable, as the flow of goods and services is vital not only to the region but to the world.

“Anyone who threatens to disrupt freedom of navigation in an international strait is clearly outside the community of nations; any disruption will not be tolerated,” Cmdr. Amy Derrick Frost, spokeswoman for the U.S. 5th Fleet based in Bahrain, said at the time.

“Disruption to the flow of oil through Straits of Hormuz would threaten regional and global economic growth,” Britain’s secretary of state for defense, Philip Hammond said in a speech in Washington on Thursday calling Iran’s move as illegal.


http://truthdive.com/2012/01/08/uk-sending-warships-to-tackle-irans-move-to-close-strait-of-hormuz.html

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U.S. Top Officer: Closing Hormuz would be Red Line
U.S. Defense Secretary says Iran "not yet" building A-bomb, says U.S. and Israel have "common cause."
By Gil Ronen
First Publish: 1/8/2012, 8:11 PM


Iran has the ability to temporarily block the Strait of Hormuz but the U.S. “would take action and reopen” it, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Martin Dempsey said Sunday, making clear to Iran that in threatening to close the straits, it is literally playing with fire. .

“They’ve invested in capabilities that could, in fact, for a period of time block the Strait of Hormuz,” Dempsey said in an interview for CBS's “Face the Nation."

“We’ve invested in capabilities to ensure that if that happens, we can defeat that.”

Blocking the strategic shipping lane linking the Gulf of Oman with the Persian Gulf would constitute a “red line” for the U.S., Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on the same program.

He assessed that Iran is preparing groundwork for making nuclear weapons someday, but is not yet building an atomic bomb. He called for continued diplomatic and economic pressure to dissuade Tehran from taking that step.

Panetta warned that a unilateral strike by Israel against Iran’s nuclear facilities could trigger Iranian retaliation against U.S. forces in the region. “We have common cause here” with Israel, he said. “And the better approach is for us to work together.”

According to AP's analysis, Panetta’s remarks "suggest the White House’s assessment of Iran’s nuclear strategy has not changed in recent months, despite warnings from advocates of military action that time is running out to prevent Tehran from becoming a nuclear-armed state."

The Obama administration has come under attack from Republican presidential hopefuls for what they say is a soft approach to Iran. “If we re-elect Barack Obama, Iran will have a nuclear weapon,” said Mitt Romney. “And if you elect Mitt Romney, Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.”

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/151522?#.TwnogKVDt7w