There were headlines all over the news media on March 25, that orders had gone out for the deployment of 2,000 U.S. troops from the 82nd Airborne Division. Press reports are speculating that these troops, along with some 4,500 Marines who are also on their way, might be used to seize either Kharg Island or some territory along the Iranian Hormuz Strait, or in the extreme, seize Iran’s stockpile of 60% enriched uranium.
Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the Speaker of Iran’s Parliament, warned this morning that the U.S., along with an unnamed Persian Gulf ally, are moving to seize an island in the Gulf. “Enemies of Iran, with the support of one of the countries in the region, are preparing for an operation to occupy one of the Iranian islands,” he said, reported Tasnim. “If they take even a single step, all the vital infrastructure of that regional country will become an unrestricted target for attack,” Qalibaf warned.
A military source told Tasnim on March 25 that, should the U.S. decide to take provocative measures in southern Iran, new fronts could open that will surprise “the enemy.” That surprise would be the opening of a new front in the Red Sea. “If the enemy wants to take action on land in the Iranian islands or anywhere else in our lands or to inflict costs on Iran with naval movements in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, we will open other fronts for them as a surprise so that their action will not only be of no benefit to them, but will also double their costs.”
“The Bab al-Mandab Strait”—at the southern end of the Red Sea—"is considered one of the world’s strategic straits, and Iran has both the will and the ability to create a completely credible threat against it,” the source continued. “Therefore, if the Americans want to think of a solution for the Strait of Hormuz with stupid measures, they should be careful not to add another strait to their problems and predicaments.” The source concluded by saying that Iran is fully prepared to escalate the situation. “If the enemy has doubts and lacks the wisdom to learn from its experiences, it can test us again, like [they did] in the Asaluyeh incident.”
An “informed source” later told Tasnim that Yemeni Ansarullah (the Houthis) is ready to join the war and take control of the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
