Iranian Situation Heating Up ?

[LongBlade]

Anyone here have HPS War over the Middle East? I'm curious if there are any scenarios covering an Israeli and/or American
strike on Iran's Nuke sites. Also curious how it plays since it looks a little dry.

I have it (somewhere around here). It's been a while since I played it. Rather than try to recall every detail, I'll simply direct you to the review I wrote: http://www.wargamer.com/article/2638/pc-game-review-war-over-the-mideast

There are a bunch of editors that come with the game so I'm sure it's possible to work up some kind of scenario to attack Iran. However, the game itself is not set up to model that well. The largest map only has a small portion of Iran on it. I think I even tried to do it once, but it's not made to be pushed that far without customizing a lot of stuff like the map, capabilities of the planes - and don't forget adding new ones. I don't believe drones were included in the game.

The best game to model something like this is probably Persian Incursion (boardgame). I believe Brant has the game. If he has a spare moment this weekend hopefully he can chime in with thoughts on it.

[LongBlade]

Iran is bragging that it will soon have a "major announcement" regarding it's nuke program.

Personally, I see this as a non-event. They put BB guns on pool rafts and claim they can shut down sea lanes - it's hardly likely they'll have anything interesting to say now.

However, we've got a thread dedicated to the topic, so it might as well get updated.

source: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/02/11/iran-to-make-major-nuclear-announcement-within-days-ahmadinejad-says/

[LongBlade]

Possibly the upcoming announcement is aimed at an internal audience? Just found this:

Iranian news agencies reported that Ahmadinejad's palace prayer leader, Abbas Amirifar, faced charges of "sorcery" after producing a controversial film. Public criticism also focused on Ahmadinejad's brother-in-law and chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, whom Ahmadinejad appeared to have been grooming as a successor.

Sometimes I wish we could put Michael Moore on trial for sorcery, but that would probably make his crapola seem better than it really is.

Anyway, here's the article source: http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/08/world/meast/iran-president-summons/index.html?hpt=imi_c2

[Staggerwing]

As much as we think that Ahmadinejad and the Mullahs are in a big circle jerk together chanting "Death to America" as they climax
the truth that they can't stand each other almost as much (or perhaps even more) as they 'hate' the Western Democracies. There is
a power struggle going on between the secular (if outwardly devout) party machine that Ahmadinejad is part of and the senior Clerical
network that has ultimate say over all that happens, even overturning election results if need be. Sooner or later there will be mass arrests and it will be interesting to see who ends up in the Pokey...(err, sound-proof basement).

[Centurion40]

Looks like the Iranians are trying to get even.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/13/world/israeli-embassy-devices/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

Jerusalem (CNN) -- Four people were wounded when an explosive device attached to an Israeli Embassy van detonated near the Israeli mission in New Delhi, officials said Monday.

It was one of two explosives discovered on Israeli Embassy vehicles Monday. The other was found on an embassy car in Tblisi, Georgia, and that device was detonated in a controlled explosion with no injuries, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed both incidents on Iran, calling it "the biggest exporter of terror in the world."

[LongBlade]

Yeah.

Over the weekend I saw a headline that indicated AQ was calling for support of the rebels.

Looks like everybody and their dog is trying to get in on some Syrian action.

I suppose I should have seen this coming.

Iraq's regime has been replaced by one that is non-hostile to the US.

Egypt has a peace treaty with Israel. While there is some question whether the emergent government will honor it, the US gives them a billion dollars and that might buy the honor of even a few radicals.

Libya's Qa-daffy is gone. We're unclear what will emerge but it might be somewhat more pro-Western than the old regime.

Lastly we're now seeing Syria start to unravel.

While none of these developments will be overtly pro-western, the opportunity exists for a deft hand to shape things such that they might not hate us as much.

Syria is the last bastion of evil there. It's no wonder that every player in the region (and outside of it) is trying to get in on the action. Things are going to get interesting there.

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

Car bombs 'target Israel envoys' in India and Georgia
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-17013987

[LongBlade]

The Pentagon is beefing up U.S. sea- and land-based defenses in the Persian Gulf to counter any attempt by Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz.

The U.S. military has notified Congress of plans to preposition new mine-detection and clearing equipment and expand surveillance capabilities in and around the strait, according to defense officials briefed on the requests, including one submitted earlier this month.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/24/us-bulks-up-iran-defenses/

[Martok]

A wise precaution.  I hope our bases in the region are on heigtened alert for terrorist attacks as well.