While the aftermath of the first 10 day Iranian wargame in the Straits of Hormuz is still lingering, especially in the price of oil, and the world is bracing itself for parallel exercises between a joint US-Israel operation and a concurrent Iranian effort in the weeks ahead, Iran is not waiting and has already started a brand new military exercise, this time inland and far closer to a key US strategic asset - Afghanistan (and its poppies). From Reuters: "Iran launched a military manoeuvre near its border with Afghanistan on Saturday, the semi-official Fars news agency reported, days after naval exercises in the Gulf increased tensions with the West and pushed up oil prices. Mohammad Pakpour, commander of the Revolutionary Guards' ground forces, said the "Martyrs of Unity" exercises near Khvat, 60 km (40 miles) from Afghanistan, were "aimed at boosting security along the Iranian borders," Fars reported." Naturally, this "reason" is bogus. That said, at this point we are at a loss as to which country it is that is desiring a military escalation more, because both sides appear hell bent on moving past the foreplay stage. Regardless, the whole situation is starting to smell more and more like the summer of 2008 when crude would move up in $5 increments on flaring tensions between Israel and Iran, coupled with Goldman predictions of near-quadruple digit Brent, only to have the entire energy complex implode in the aftermath of Lehman. The recent decoupling of oil from all other risk indicators (oil higher is not a good thing for the economy) is vaguely reminiscent...
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In other news, the US Stennis, better known as the CVN-74, recently saved several Iranian fishermen from pirates:
Forces with the USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier strike group, the target of Tehran's threat, rescued 13 Iranian fishermen from Somali pirates days after passing through the Strait.
Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi played down the political significance of the rescue.
"On some occasions, Iran has helped and secured the released of many other countries' sailors that had been caught by pirates," he told state-run Press TV.
"This is a humanitarian gesture and it is not related to the countries' relations with each other."
Of course, the liberation of one country's oil will most certainly be presented as a humanitarian gesture as well. But everything in due course.