There was a House hearing today hosted by the Foreign Affairs Committee on Iran and the implications of the nuclear agreement. (July 9, 2015)
In 2014, the NYT’s reported:
WASHINGTON — Iran is building a nonworking mock-up of an American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that United States officials say may be intended to be blown up for propaganda value.
Intelligence analysts studying satellite photos of Iranian military installations first noticed the vessel rising from the Gachin shipyard, near Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf, last summer. The ship has the same distinctive shape and style of the Navy’s Nimitz-class carriers, as well as the Nimitz’s number 68 neatly painted in white near the bow. Mock aircraft can be seen on the flight deck.
The Iranian mock-up, which American officials described as more like a barge than a warship, has no nuclear propulsion system and is only about two-thirds the length of a typical 1,100-foot-long Navy carrier. Intelligence officials do not believe that Iran is capable of building an actual aircraft carrier. More here.
Then in February of 2015, The Military Times reported:
The video here. This operation was called Great Prophet 9
Iranian officials had more than a dozen speedboats attack a replica of a US aircraft carrier today and featured the large-scale naval drill on a state TV broadcast. The nationally-televised show of force by the country’s elite Revolutionary Guard occurred near the strategically vital entrance of the Persian Gulf. The ‘Great Prophet 9’ drill was held near the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil passes.
July 2015:
CNN reports:
A U.S. Navy ship and helicopter were repeatedly targeted by a laser device on board an Iranian-flagged merchant ship beginning on Sunday in the Gulf of Aden, according to a U.S. defense official.
No U.S. personnel were hurt or equipment damaged in the incidents which ended on Wednesday, the official said.
The bridge area of the USS Forrest Sherman and one of its helicopters were targeted, the official said.
The Navy is not certain exactly what the device was, or how powerful it was, but believes it was not of industrial or military grade quality since there was no damage. The incidents are viewed at this point as harassment from the Iranians.
The incidents took place in international waters off the coast of Yemen. The Navy ship was “conducting routine maritime operations,” the official said. But it is well understood that U.S Navy warships patrol the region looking for any indication of Iranian weapons smuggling into Yemen.
Exactly why are these talks allowed or sanctioned by the White House and any of the P5+1?
