Posted on 09/16/2008 11:52:54 AM PDT by JZelle
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) Iran announced Tuesday that it has put the elite Revolutionary Guards in charge of defending the country's territorial Persian Gulf waters in what appeared to be a hardening of its stance in the vital oil route.
U.S. commanders in the Gulf have in the past said they find Guards ships more confrontational than the regular Iranian navy, which until the new order was responsible for Iranian defenses in the Gulf.
Iran has warned repeatedly that it will close the narrow Hormuz Strait at the mouth of the Gulf if the United States or Israel attacks it amid tensions over Iran's nuclear program. Around 40 percent of the world's oil passes through Hormuz. Last winter, Iranian and U.S. ships patrolling the Gulf had a several small confrontations in Hormuz that the Americans blamed on provocations by Guards ships.
The Guards corps, which has land, navy and air components, is considered better equipped than the normal military and more ideologically fervent, tasked with protecting Iran's Islamic government, dominated by hard-line clerics. No reason was given for the move, but it could be aimed at showing Iran is serious in its warnings of retaliation for any attack.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
ping
Hope they get swim lessons...
They throw around the "elite" tag a bit loosely. What sets the Pasdaran (IRGC) apart from the regular armed forces is their worse shave, foam at the mouth and hubris... pretty much like the Iraqi Republican Guards.
“They throw around the “elite” tag a bit loosely. What sets the Pasdaran (IRGC) apart from the regular armed forces is their worse shave, foam at the mouth and hubris... pretty much like the Iraqi Republican Guards.”
I remember before Gulf War I, our traitorous media was pretty much predicting doom and gloom against the US by talking up Saddam’s million man army and their “elite” Republican Guard.
I think they have a toll free number
1-800-SHARKBAIT
If the guard tries anything stupid, what will happen to them will give new meaning to the term ‘man-made reef’.
All 50 caliber machine guns should be checked and rechecked becasue the Iranian strategy is to put these idiots in boats and send a swarm after our ships. A thousand simoultaneous suicide bomb missions
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