Quote from cgroupman:
Exactly. Sabre rattling, or saber rattling, no matter how you spell it, or which side of the pond you're on.
Still, more of a military threat than Iraq, and that didn't work out too well.
c
Yeah, its sabre rattling. There are several reasons for it.
One reason is to manipulate the price of oil in their favor. Another reason is to deter some countries from participating in the economic sanctions. Yet another reason is to make the theocracy look strong, y'know, for domestic consumption. The Iranian government is just as afraid of the Iranian people as they are afraid of attack by Israel or whomever.
I've gotta say though, that video yesterday of 3 or 4 small Iranian Navy boats trailing a USN ship was astonishing. I'm surprised the USN let them get that close. There must be some very restrictive rules-of-engagement in place or somebody exercised alot of restraint. It was a very small boat that blew a huge hole in the USS Cole.