Russian Expert : Only Days Until US Begins War On Iran

US Troops Reported To Be Massing On Iranian Border




Here's some snippets from Russian media that have barely registered, let alone recieved any coverage, in Australian, American or British press.

You can write it all off as Russian propaganda if you like. Pray that it's just Russian propaganda, but it fits into the Western media reports of US forces massing in the Persian Gulf, and rising tensions with Russia and the Saudis. It certainly seems like something big is coming.

(Some of these snippets were translated from French via Babelfish, so they might read a bit rough)

From Novosti :

Russian military experts estimate that the planning of the American military attack against Iran passed the point of nonreturn on February 20, when the director of the IAEA, Mohammed El Baradei, recognized, in his report....the incapacity of the Agency "to confirm the peaceful character of the nuclear program of Iran".

...a military action will proceed during the first week of April, before Easter....when the "Western opinion" is on leave. It may be also that Iran is struck Friday 6, public holiday in the Moslem countries.

The report cited claims the attacks will last for a total of twelve hours, and will run under the code name 'Operation Bite'.

A "score" of Iranian nuclear and military installations will be targeted, along with "centres of study" and laboraties tied to the nuclear program.

Predicted response from Iran will be to sink tankers on the Strait of Ormuz to cut oil shipments. Some 25% of the world's oil flows through these straits.

The aim of the attack is set the Iranian nuclear program back by several years.

If the attacks by the United States go ahead, expect oil to roar up and beyond $80 per barrel within days. Back in the US, this could translate into more than $5 a gallon.

What the American media is promoting is the "show of force" the United States is now undertaking in the Persian Gulf. The French are in there as well.

From the Washington Post :

The U.S. Navy on Tuesday began its largest demonstration of force in the Persian Gulf since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, led by a pair of aircraft carriers and backed by warplanes flying simulated attack maneuvers off the coast of Iran.

The maneuvers bring together two strike groups of U.S. warships and more than 100 U.S. warplanes to conduct simulated air warfare in the crowded Gulf shipping lanes.

The U.S. exercises come just four days after Iran's capture of 15 British sailors and marines who Iran said had strayed into Iranian waters near the Gulf. Britain and the U.S. Navy have insisted the British sailors were operating in Iraqi waters.

A French naval strike group, led by the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, was operating simultaneously just outside the Gulf. But the French ships were supporting the NATO forces in Afghanistanand not taking part in the U.S. maneuvers, officials said.

Overall, the exercises involve more than 10,000 U.S. personnel on warships and aircraft making simulated attacks on enemy shipping with aircraft and ships, hunting enemy submarines and finding mines.

A Russian report on US troop activity from within Iraq, close to Iran's borders :

Russian military intelligence services are reporting a flurry of activity by U.S. Armed Forces near Iran's borders, a high-ranking security source said Tuesday.

"The latest military intelligence data point to heightened U.S. military preparations for both an air and ground operation against Iran," the official said, adding that the Pentagon has probably not yet made a final decision as to when an attack will be launched.

He said the Pentagon is looking for a way to deliver a strike against Iran "that would enable the Americans to bring the country to its knees at minimal cost."

Col.-Gen. Leonid Ivashov, vice president of the Academy of Geopolitical Sciences, said last week that the Pentagon is planning to deliver a massive air strike on Iran's military infrastructure in the near future.

A new U.S. carrier battle group has been dispatched to the Gulf.

The USS John C. Stennis, with a crew of 3,200 and around 80 fixed-wing aircraft, including F/A-18 Hornet and Superhornet fighter-bombers, eight support ships and four nuclear submarines are heading for the Gulf, where a similar group led by the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower has been deployed since December 2006.