An undated photo of the reactor building of Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant. Iranian Students News Agency photo
Iran has slowed its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency since this summer and is not providing assurance that all its nuclear material is being used for peaceful purposes. Read More
Gen. Chang Wanquan (R), state councilor and Chinese defense minister, meets with Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari (L) in Beijing on the morning of October 23, 2014. Chinese Ministry of National Defense Photo
Last week’s meeting between the heads of the Iranian Navy and the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) in Beijing are the latest in a bilateral campaign to increase military to military cooperation and a recognition of growing Chinese interests in the Middle East. Read More
PLAN ship Type 052C Luyang II destroyer Changchun enters the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas on Sept. 20, 2014. Fars News Agency
A Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) guided missile destroyer and frigate have docked in Iran on Saturday ahead of a series of bilateral exercises, according to Iranian and Chinese press reports. Read More
F/A-18C Hornet assigned to the Golden Warriors of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 87 takes off from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) in the Persian Gulf on Aug. 10, 2014. US Navy Photo
The U.S. will launch a comprehensive air campaign to exterminate the Islamic State of Iraq and the Syria (ISIS or ISIL) terrorist group that has been ravaging those two nations. President Barack Obama announced the launch of the new full-scale American intervention during a televised speech on Sept. 10. Read More
Dick Cheney, Vice-President of the United States of America in of the World Economic Forum in 2004. World Economic Forum Photo
Former Vice President Dick Cheney said President Barack Obama was wrong in asserting that the threat from Islamic fundamentalists to the United States was declining during his term in office. Instead, Cheney said, “a whole new wave of jihadists” was rising in the Middle East and that “al Qaeda is not diminished.” Read More
The following is the Aug. 19, 2014 Congressional Research Service report: Iran Sanctions Read More
US Coast Guard Cutter Monomoy (WPB-1326) in 2005. US Navy Photo
A Coast Guard small boat sent to intercept an Iranian dhow fired a warning shot after the crew of the dhow charged and aimed a .50-caliber weapon at the Coast Guard crew in the Persian Gulf, U.S. Fifth Fleet officials said in a Tuesday statement.
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Iranian Navy Rear Adm. Habibollah Sayyari
Iran has begun sea trails of its latest domestically built Mowj-class frigate armed with reconnaissance and attack unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), according local press reports. Read More
So-called Iranian version of the RQ-170. Iran claims it was able to reverse engineer the stealthy unmanned aerial vehicle. FARS News Service Photo
Iran’s purported reverse-engineered copies of the Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel unmanned aircraft are nothing but cheap mockups, industry sources told USNI News. Read More
A commercial satellite image of the Nimitz-class carrier mockup under construction in Iran. Digital Globe Photo
This post was updated from a previous version to include additional quotes from U.S. 5th Fleet.
A mock-up of an American aircraft carrier will be used as a target by Iranian naval forces in an upcoming exercise, the head of the naval branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Sunday in local press reports. Read More
