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Iran Launches War Games, Lobbies Against Sanctions

24 April 2010 02:20 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps started a large-scale, land, sea and air exercise in the Persian Gulf and strategic Strait of Hormuz early Thursday, with state media reporting units would test-fire new missile capabilities during the drill, dubbed "Great Prophet 5", APA reports quoting â€œThe Wall Street Journalâ€.
Iran has a history of saber-rattling under pressure. A U.S.-led push has been building steam at the United Nations for fresh economic sanctions against Tehran, while President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other Iranian officials have mounted what appears to be a diplomatic push to thwart the U.N. effort.
The Revolutionary Guard’s deputy chief, Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami, said the five-day exercise would begin Thursday, according to Iran’s IRIB news agency. He said the exercises were aimed at showing Iran’s "strength, will and national resolve to defend independence and territorial integrity."
The Strait of Hormuz, which links the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, is a transit route for about 20% of the world’s daily oil supply, is the relatively narrow passageway between Iran and Oman that connects the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman . Iranian commanders have from time to time threatened to obstruct the strait in retaliation for any attack. Oil prices appeared little affected by the announcement, reported by Iranian media late morning Wednesday. Prices of U.S. benchmark crude were higher in Asian trading, but analysts attributed the move to strong corporate profit reports and reopened commercial air space in Europe.
The Iranian navy and Revolutionary Guard, which operates in parallel to Iran’s regular armed forces, frequently patrol the Persian Gulf. The Gulf is also heavily patrolled by American and allied warships, and U.S. and other Western naval officials describe the Guard’s naval units as more erratic than Iran’s regular navy.
Some analysts worry that provocation from Guard units could quickly escalate. "It’s the IRGC navyâ€¦that will be more provocative in their maneuvers and in their potential interaction with shipping," said Theodore Karasik, director of research and development at the Dubai-based Institute for Near East & Gulf Military Analysis, a think tank.
The Revolutionary Guard is a vast military and paramilitary organization that operates in parallel with Iran’s regular armed forces and answers directly to Iran’s clerical leadership.
The U.S. and many of its Western and Arab allies accuse Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons. Tehran says its program is peaceful. President Barack Obama said late last month he hoped to have a sanctions deal within weeks, but talks among Security Council members have been slow, with China continuing to signal ambivalence toward new measures.
In recent days, Iranian officials have floated anew a counterproposal to a U.N.-backed draft deal, hammered out last year, for providing nuclear fuel to Iran for use in a medical-research reactor. That deal would have seen Iran sending off the bulk of its lower-enriched nuclear fuel to be upgraded overseas and sent back to Iran.
Iranian negotiators helped draft the deal, but the country’s leadership never backed it. Instead, officials have offered several, sometimes-contradictory alternatives, including most recently a proposal to swap the fuel simultaneously and on Iranian soil. Earlier this year, Iran began enriching its lower-grade fuel on its own, further alarming Western officials.
Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, said Wednesday that Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki would be reaching out to U.N. Security Council members to discuss the sanctions effort. He said he will also be talking to officials in other countries about Iran’s proposed fuel swap, Iranian media reported.
Iran and the West both appear to be courting nonpermanent members of the Security Council over sanctions. The U.S. and its allies need the support of nine of 15 members, without a veto by any of the council’s permanent members, which include China. Still, nonpermanent members opposed to fresh sanctions could weaken any package and provide diplomatic support to Tehran.
This week Mr. Ahmadinejad is scheduled to visit Uganda, a nonpermanent member. U.K. officials have also reached out to Uganda, along with Nigeria, another former British colony and nonpermanent member, people familiar with the matter said. Ugandan and Nigerian leaders have yet to declare their hand, one of these people said.