Another Flashpoint Of Tension Between Iran And The Gulf Arabs

In Iran's Backyard, War Games May Spark New Conflict -- Haaretz

The tiny Gulf islands of Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunb may become a new theater of conflict between Tehran and the neighboring Sunni countries.

While nearly all the international attention regarding the Iranian nuclear program has been devoted to a potential Israeli strike, a possible conflict has been brewing much closer to Iran's borders, and could now be reaching boiling point.

Yesterday and today, the Peninsula Shield Force, the military coordinating army of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which is essentially the NATO of the Sunni countries around the Persian Gulf, carrying out a war-game titled "Islands of Loyalty." While there are few official details of the exercise which is meant to "test the harmony and coordination among ground, air and naval forces and their readiness," the name is certainly no coincidence.

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My Comment: These islands hold a strategic position in the Persian Gulf. One can easily see from the above map on why the Iranians do not want to give it up.