Originally appeared at ZeroHedge
At a moment the US struck five supposedly ‘Iran-linked’ militia bases in Iraq and Syria on Sunday, sending regional tensions soaring, unprecedented four-day long joint naval drills involving Iran, Russia and China outside the Persian Gulf were simultaneously winding down.
Iran used the occasion of being joined by Chinese and Russian warships in the Gulf of Oman and Indian Ocean to declare that US dominance in the Middle East is now over.
“Today, the era of American free action in the region is over,” naval commander Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi said. “They must leave the region gradually,” he added.
Image source: TASS/The Moscow Times
And now Iran has not only said the drills are set to continue annually upon their close on Sunday, but is inviting other countries to join.
Feeling emboldened by the official participation of the Chinese and Russian navies, Adm. Khanzadi further told semi-official Mehr news agency:
We are seeking to achieve collective security, and for that purpose, we are inviting regional countries to join us [in the drills].
From the start, Iranian officials have touted the joint naval drills as sending “a highly significant message” to the US and their allies, especially given the United States has struggled to attract key European allies to join its own ‘maritime naval mission’ in the gulf to thwart Iran. Instead, Europe has initiated its own mission which leaders have emphasized has nothing to do with the US project.
Adm. Khanzadi continued, “There is no threat facing the Persian Gulf region except for the presence of foreign forces such as the US, which are endangering the security of this region.” He also said Iran is planning future such drills with regional allies in the Caspian Sea. The weekend’s joint exercises were the first of their kind, and were conducted across an area of 17,000 square kilometers to demonstrate “various tactical exercises”.
Setting off an Iraqi insurgency against U.S. forces just in time for an election year is not the dumb move I thought Trump would make, but that's what seems to be happening
— Daniel Larison (@DanielLarison) December 30, 2019
The statements inviting other powers to join Russian and China for next year’s exercise come after Tehran charged Washington with committing acts of “terrorism” by its weekend airstrikes on sovereign Iraqi soil.
Why title like that? US dominance in Middle East unfortunately is not “yet over”. If only can be that simple. US will continue spiting in the soup as long as they can. When they are completely kicked out of Syria and Iraq maybe… but not yet.
As long as they can print money
They keep printing day and night but even that doesn’t help as much as it used to…and it will get even worse than this despite permanent printing.
sure it’s been in the offing for quite some time – down on its uppers (the state of its infrastructure tantamount to what you would find in a third world country and compared to uzbekistan for example way way behind) and with 23000 billion $$ in national debt and the printers running on max. what to wonder about.