West displays military power to defiant Iran

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI

Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran — Military power near the strategic Strait of Hormuz could be bolstered by additional British forces, the country’s defense secretary said Tuesday, as a defiant Iran shrugged off Europe’s oil embargo and moved ahead with plans to hold naval exercises alongside the oil tanker shipping lanes it has threatened to block.

Tehran’s bravado was in sharp contrast to the widening international pressures seeking to curb its nuclear program.

Australia became the latest country to shun Iranian oil, and the European Union’s foreign policy chief traveled to Israel for talks certain to convey the West’s belief that increasing economic isolation, rather than military action, is the most effective tool against Iran’s leadership.

Iran also has accused Israel of masterminding a series of covert attacks such as a malicious computer virus designed to infiltrate uranium enrichment labs and targeted slayings of members of Iran’s scientific community. Israel has made no direct comments but dangled hints that clandestine operations are possible by Iran’s many foes.

The EU on Monday joined Washington in backing sanctions targeting Iran’s vital oil industry, which accounts for about 80 percent of its foreign currency revenues. The vote in Brussels came a day after a Western flotilla — two British and French warships and the American aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln’s battle group — entered the Gulf in a show of force.

Iran’s commanders, meanwhile, are preparing their own message. Plans remain in place for the powerful Revolutionary Guard to send its maritime forces for maneuvers next month in the Strait.