By William Tucker
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is holding their regular war games, but this time the focus is on the Strait of Hormuz. The Strait of Hormuz is a strategic choke in the Persian Gulf through which 20 percent of the world’s oil flows and is a major artery into Iraq for U.S. military operations. Should a military attack occur against Iran’s nuclear sites the clerical regime has threatened to use several different measures at its disposal to close the strait. In this exercise the IRGC is using naval, ground and air forces to demonstrate that they maintain some capability to carry out this threat. Unlike Operation Praying Mantis, a short naval engagement between Iran and the U.S., Iran is likely to engage U.S. warships in asymmetric warfare using small speed boats laden with explosives. The Iranian military also has several batteries of surface to surface missiles in the area that are capable of striking U.S. targets in the vicinity including the 5th Fleet in Bahrain. Ultimately the U.S. Navy is far superior in military capability and can mitigate this threat, but any traffic disruption in the Strait of Hormuz can have severe economic repercussions worldwide.
Map credit: CIA
Satellite photo: Google Earth
Video: Reuters
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