Iranian commander: US aircraft carriers target if Islamic Republic attacked

Source: Washington Post

TEHRAN, Iran — A senior Revolutionary Guard commander threatened Saturday that U.S. aircraft carriers would be targeted if Iran came under attack amid a standoff with the West over Tehran’s nuclear program.

Iran has often warned of major retaliation if they faced a military strike from Israel or the West, but the latest comments appear tailored to emphasize the expanding range of Iranian missiles following 10 days of war games. The exercises included unveiling underground missile silos that Iran says is capable of multiple launches.

.“Aircraft carriers ... are moving targets. If the enemy threatens us, we will target them,” said Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the Guard’s aerospace force, in comments broadcast on state TV.

Hajizadeh also confirmed that Iran secretly conducted missile tests in February that he claimed hit targets at the “mouth of the Indian Ocean” — an apparent reference to areas near the Strait of Hormouz at the southern end of the Gulf. Hajizadeh gave no further details. In April, the commander of the Revolutionary Guard said Iran’s arsenal is capable of striking “remote regions outside the Persian Gulf.”



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/iranian-commander-us-aircraft-carriers-target-if-islamic-republic-attacked/2011/07/09/gIQAXpD84H_story.html

That is an outrage!

Time for the USA to withdraw from the Middle East. Things just get worse there the longer we stay. The wars are lost...time to come home.

I'm not saying they would be safe, but it wouldn't be easy or obvious.

But that's just the way us submariners are.

:)

n/t

These things happen to me when I post too fast. :shrug:

That's cuz there are no 'Los Angeles Class' Carriers... Subs, yes... Carriers, no...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slYW7kkHyI4

:)

They get routinely sunk in Navy wargames; the navy just cheats, declares they weren't really sank, and refloats them.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/sep/06/usa.iraq

that didn't have a picture of one of the carriers in the "cross-hairs".

Until they met the Exocet.

Well, we do have Star Wars defenses.

n/t

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that the Iranians have Russian made surface to surface Sunburn missiles. I would take such a threat seriously.

They did lose 1 destroyer and 2 frigates, but they can't send out fighters to intercept attacking aircraft before getting to missile range.

. . is like a strategy game where the one with the stronger ‘strength rating’ on their token wins (the ‘Janes Defense’ crowd).

"Hezbollah nearly sinking the Israeli flagship by humping an ASM to the shore on mules does not count, the rules for their character did not allow for this form of attack."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INS_Hanit

It was out-flanked as the Germans were aware they would be slaughtered in a frontal assault; those defenses were formidable.

You're not telling us anything anyone doesn't know. The point is about the history of hubris among military empires, which is rich.

As a matter of fact, the USG has been imagining an actual Maginot line - this one in space - for 30 years. That one will be rendered irrelevant in much the same way as the French version, if it is ever built and comes to the test: by attacks that simply avoid it.

Whatever sinks the first US carrier - and attempts will come inevitably, as long as the USG insists on starting new wars every few years - won't announce itself in advance, and may not have yet been predicted. In the aftermath of such an event, investigations will be launched to find out "what went wrong." The one question they won't ask is, "What were we doing over there (wherever) with our supposedly invulnerable Death Star in the first place?"

the troops that attacked the Maginot line were third-rate reserve troops, without much firepower. They still breached the line quickly. fixed defences don't work.
http://www.germanmilitaryhistory.com/blog/574711-assault-on-the-maginot-line-i/

Ya know with America's recent history if I was in another country I would be leery about them starting a war. It's what we do! :( :nuke: :shrug: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

Maybe we should discover the relationship between Iran and China before we start or engage in war #7. Especially since China is floating our debt for the current wars...

They've been acting like they have the biggest dicks in their neighborhood ever since the days they were Zoroastrians, worshipping the sun and fire.

Islam really has very little to do with it; and it's a Johnny-come-lately in the Iranian psyche.

what?! youre not just going to stand there and do nothing !?!?!
lol

Also no tag-backs.

It is one of the reasons the mullahs divided military power between them and the regular military in Iran

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File this under "no shit".

I doubt you'll be able to do more than threaten but whatever.

We have radar-proof Stealth bombers with GPS-guided bombs, perfect for surprise attacks on fixed targets.


our moving targets are protected by fighters and Aegis-equipped cruisers.



It would be a hell of a fireworks display.

OK, dude.

A silo doesn't move, ergo you can attack it whenever you want to. A ship does, so you have to find it first, THEN attack it.

They have no long range surface search equipped aircraft leaving ground based units with range limited to the horizon.

An aircraft carrier carries a huge radar signature; the Russians can track them through the world from their air defence base in Omsk.

You can track ships only as far as the horizon. Radar doesn't bend to match the curvature of the earth.

and every ship over 100 metres in length is tracked in the Persian Gulf.

They're in the Arabian Sea. Also the Iranians don't have that satellite capability in the first place.

...get within radar range.

Not to mention radar jamming by the EA-6B Prowler and escort ships. And air-to-air missiles with home-on-jam capability. And Tomahawk strikes on Iranian airfields and the aircraft based there.

They were hit by an Excocet. Years ago Iran aquired the "Sunburn" from the Russians to defeat our ship defenses and I also believe the Chinese tested one. I don't think it'd make them dominant, but if it came to it, they could probably take at least one carrier out with it's thousands of sailors. Not a pretty thought.

http://www.rense.com/general59/theSunburniransawesome.htm

"The Sunburn can deliver a 200-kiloton nuclear payload, or: a 750-pound conventional warhead, within a range of 100 miles, more than twice the range of the Exocet. The Sunburn combines a Mach 2.1 speed (two times the speed of sound) with a flight pattern that hugs the deck and includes "violent end maneuvers" to elude enemy defenses. The missile was specifically designed to defeat the US Aegis radar defense system."

from the field,

was deleted here.

You are so fragile. My point exactly.

Khalij Fars
http://defense-update.com/wp/20110208_fateh110_eo.html

http://www.informationdissemination.net/2011/02/iran-continues-to-improve-their-anti.html


Noor-2
http://www.harpoondatabases.com/Encyclopedia/Entry2856.aspx

SS-N-22 Sunburn
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/moskit.htm


Missile sites
http://www.nti.org/e_research/profiles_pdfs/iran/iran_missile_sites.pdf



key island to watch- Abu Musa
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/iran/abu-musa.htm

It's fairly unlikely that Iran would be attacked without US help.