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Tension mounts as Iran warns US ship
Iran’s military on Tuesday warned one of the US navy’s biggest aircraft carriers to keep away from the Gulf, in an escalating showdown over Tehran’s nuclear drive that could pitch into armed confrontation, even as a Russian defence official said on Tuesday, in Moscow’s first response to a series of tests conducted by Tehran near the vital Strait of Hormuz oil supply route, that Iran has no long-range missiles.
“Iran does not have the technology to create intermediate or long-range inter-continental ballistic missiles,” defence ministry spokesman Vadim Koval told the Interfax news agency.
“And it will not get such missiles any time soon,” he added. Meanwhile, Brigadier General Ataollah Salehi, Iran’s armed forces chief, said: “We advise and insist that this warship not return to its former base in the Persian Gulf.”
“We don’t have the intention of repeating our warning, and we warn only once,” he was quoted as saying by the armed forces’ official website.
The defiant message came just after Iran completed 10 days of naval manoeuvres at the entrance to the Gulf to show it could close the strategic oil shipping channel in the Strait of Hormuz if it felt threatened.
In the climax of the war games yesterday, Iran test-fired three missiles — including a new cruise missile — designed to sink warships.
The aircraft carrier Salehi was referring to was the USS John C Stennis, one of the US navy’s biggest warships. The massive, nuclear-powered vessel transports 90 fighter jets and helicopters and is usually escorted by around five destroyers. It is close to finishing its seven-month deployment at sea.
The carrier last week passed through the Strait of Hormuz heading east across the Gulf of Oman and through the zone where the Iranian navy was holding its manoeuvres. The US Defence Department called its passage “routine”.
The potential for Iran-US conflict sent a shiver through oil markets on Tuesday, helping oil prices jump more than a dollar a barrel.
There was no sign of a let-up in the tensions. US President Barack Obama at the weekend signed into law new sanctions targeting Iran’s central bank, which processes most of the Islamic republic’s oil export sales.
France insists Iran developing N-arms
Paris: French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said he was convinced that Iran was developing nuclear weapons and called for the EU to impose tougher sanctions on Tehran.
“Iran is pursuing the development of its nuclear arms, I have no doubt about it,” he said. “The last report by the International Atomic Energy Agency is quite explicit on this point.” “This is why France, without closing the path of negotiation and dialogue with Iran, wants stricter sanctions,” he added. He said French President Nicolas Sarkozy has proposed a freezing of assets of Iran’s Central Bank and an embargo on exports of Iranian oil, a move also being considered by the EU.
Iran’s military on Tuesday warned one of the US navy’s biggest aircraft carriers to keep away from the Gulf, in an escalating showdown over Tehran’s nuclear drive that could pitch into armed confrontation, even as a Russian defence official said on Tuesday, in Moscow’s first response to a series of tests conducted by Tehran near the vital Strait of Hormuz oil supply route, that Iran has no long-range missiles.
“Iran does not have the technology to create intermediate or long-range inter-continental ballistic missiles,” defence ministry spokesman Vadim Koval told the Interfax news agency.
“And it will not get such missiles any time soon,” he added. Meanwhile, Brigadier General Ataollah Salehi, Iran’s armed forces chief, said: “We advise and insist that this warship not return to its former base in the Persian Gulf.”
“We don’t have the intention of repeating our warning, and we warn only once,” he was quoted as saying by the armed forces’ official website.
The defiant message came just after Iran completed 10 days of naval manoeuvres at the entrance to the Gulf to show it could close the strategic oil shipping channel in the Strait of Hormuz if it felt threatened.
In the climax of the war games yesterday, Iran test-fired three missiles — including a new cruise missile — designed to sink warships.
The aircraft carrier Salehi was referring to was the USS John C Stennis, one of the US navy’s biggest warships. The massive, nuclear-powered vessel transports 90 fighter jets and helicopters and is usually escorted by around five destroyers. It is close to finishing its seven-month deployment at sea.
The carrier last week passed through the Strait of Hormuz heading east across the Gulf of Oman and through the zone where the Iranian navy was holding its manoeuvres. The US Defence Department called its passage “routine”.
The potential for Iran-US conflict sent a shiver through oil markets on Tuesday, helping oil prices jump more than a dollar a barrel.
There was no sign of a let-up in the tensions. US President Barack Obama at the weekend signed into law new sanctions targeting Iran’s central bank, which processes most of the Islamic republic’s oil export sales.
France insists Iran developing N-arms
Paris: French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said he was convinced that Iran was developing nuclear weapons and called for the EU to impose tougher sanctions on Tehran.
“Iran is pursuing the development of its nuclear arms, I have no doubt about it,” he said. “The last report by the International Atomic Energy Agency is quite explicit on this point.” “This is why France, without closing the path of negotiation and dialogue with Iran, wants stricter sanctions,” he added. He said French President Nicolas Sarkozy has proposed a freezing of assets of Iran’s Central Bank and an embargo on exports of Iranian oil, a move also being considered by the EU.
