When Pentagon officials announced plans to send Navy minesweepers and warships into the Persian Gulf for exercises, they carefully tried to avoid framing it as a direct show of force against Iran. Tehran took care of that.
While Iran's military loudly trumpets every new project or purported advance in hopes of rattling the United States and its Gulf Arab allies, Washington is quietly answering with an array of proposed arms sales across the region as part of a wider effort to counter Tehran.
A U.S. Navy ship opened fire on a small boat racing toward it in broad daylight Monday near the Gulf city of Dubai, killing one person, according to American officials.
Two assailants on a motorcycle attached a magnetic bomb to the car of an Iranian university professor working at a key nuclear facility, killing him and another person Wednesday, state TV reported. The slayings suggest a widening covert effort to set back Iran's atomic program.
Banners proclaiming Iran's "obvious right" to nuclear technology are draped over building facades.
A relentless barrage of bombings killed 63 people Monday in the most sweeping and coordinated attack Iraq has seen in over a year, striking 17 cities from northern Sunni areas to the southern Shiite heartland.
Iran's latest war games have featured the predictable blaze of missile tests and an unexpected peek at underground launch silos. There's one bit of military showmanship, though, that ties it all together: promoting the "Made in Iran" label.
Iran's latest war games have featured the predictable blaze of missile tests and an unexpected peek at underground launch silos. There's one bit of military showmanship, though, that ties it all together: Promoting the Made in Iran label.
