Iran shift in Gulf concerns Mullens

Iran shift in Gulf concerns Mullens
By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, January 12, 2008

ARLINGTON, Va. — The encounter between U.S. and Iranian vessels in the Strait of Hormuz earlier this week offered worrying proof that control of area waters has shifted from the Iranian navy to the much more aggressive Iranian Revolutionary Guard, the Pentagon’s top uniformed leader said Friday.

“It’s clearly, strategically, where the Iranian military has gone,” Navy Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Pentagon reporters.

“There’s been a projection” by U.S. military analysts that the Revolutionary Guard Corps would take operational command and control of the Gulf from Iran’s navy, Mullen said.

“That was a big concern to me, because of the history and the background” of the Revolutionary Guard, Mullen said.

The Revolutionary Guards maritime forces are known to operate in a far more hostile manner than the regular Iranian navy, including their hostage-taking of 15 British forces last year in international waters.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=51567



uhc comment: The drums are getting louder. Five speedboats against an aircraft carrier group. Gimmeafuckingbreak.