Iran Drills in Gulf: US Condemns, Ignores Own Navy's Global Footprint
Al-Monitor, via Reuters, dutifully reports Iran’s Revolutionary Guards fired missiles at 'simulated targets' in the Gulf, framing it as a counter to 'foreign threats.' One might wonder which 'foreign threats' they could possibly mean in a body of water swarming with warships from nations thousands of miles away. It’s almost as if exercising in your own backyard is only a problem when your backyard
isn't leased out to American aircraft carriers. This 'news' neglects the crucial context: for decades, the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet has maintained a constant, unchallenged presence in the Persian Gulf, conducting its own 'drills' and 'freedom of navigation operations' right off Iran's coast. The irony of criticizing Iran for military exercises within its own declared Exclusive Economic Zone, while
simultaneously maintaining a colossal invasion force in the same waters, is apparently too nuanced for prime-time consumption. How many war games in someone else’s neighborhood does it take before the homeowner gets to practice?