Saber-rattling and thumbing their noses at a weak president whom they know will not act. “Iran begins war games in Persian Gulf oil route,” by Nasser Karimi and Lee Keath for Associated Press, April 22 (thanks to Choi):
TEHRAN, Iran – Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard held war games Thursday in the strategic Persian Gulf oil route, the Hormuz Strait, a show of its military strength at a time when the country’s leaders are depicting President Barack Obama’s new nuclear policy as a threat.
Ahead of the military maneuvers, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Washington of trying to dominate the world through its nuclear arsenal and vowed that Iran would not bend before what he called “implicit atomic threats.”…
Iran has been holding military maneuvers, dubbed as The Great Prophet, in the strategic waters of the Persian Gulf annually since 2006 to show off its military capabilities — and serve as an implicit warning of the consequences if the United States or Israel attack Iran’s nuclear facilities….
On Thursday, the military unveiled a new attack speedboat, describing it as an “ultra-speed and smart” vessel called “Ya Mahdi.” Iran also said 313 smaller speedboats with the capability of firing rockets and missiles would participate….
On Wednesday, ahead of the exercises, Khamenei spoke to a conference of nurses and denounced Obama’s new nuclear guidelines. U.S. officials have said the changes aim to push Iran into cooperating with the U.N. on its nuclear program, but the supreme leader depicted them as dangling the threat of nuclear attack over his country.
“Implicit atomic threats against Iran will have no effect,” he said. “The Iranian people will not submit to such threats and will bring those who make them to their knees.” He repeated that Iran is not seeking to build a nuclear weapon.
“The nuclear powers, particularly the United States, are using their nuclear might to try to impose their authority over the world,” he said….