Sam Gardiner reports:

For three weeks we have seen almost a daily escalation of rhetoric to and from Iran. It seems to have started with the New York Times revelation that Israel had conducted a military exercise that was reported to be a practice of a strike on Iran.

The rhetoric has involved leaders and their spokesmen making pronouncements. We’ve seen missile firing and the movement of naval forces to support the statements.

June 20 – Israeli major air exercise revealed in the New York Times.
· June 28 – Commander of the Revolutionary Guard, if attacked… “one of Iran’s steps will definitely be to exercise control of the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.”
· June 29 – Iranian brigadier general, “We will dig 15,000 to 20,000 graves in each of our border provinces” for the burial of enemy soldiers.
July 2 - US Commander of the 5th Fleet, referring to the Gulf, “We will not allow Iran to close it.”
· July 4 - Commander of the Revolutionary Guard, if nuclear facilities are attacked, “Any action against Iran will be int erpreted as the start of a war.”
July 6 - Iranian press began covering Hersh article on US efforts to “destabilize the Iranian government.”
July 7 - US Navy organized naval exercise, Exercise Stake Net practicing the protection of gas and oil installations in the Gulf
· July 8 – Iranian Supreme Leader spokesman, “Iran would set fire to Israel and the US Navy if it were attacked.”
· July 9 – Iranian Missile Firings and Commander of the Revolutionary Guard, “…have to know that our finger is always on the trigger and we have hundreds even thousands of missiles ready…”
· July 10 – Iranian Missile Firing
July 10 – US Secretary of State, “We take seriously our obligation to defend our allies and we intend to do so.”
July 10 – Israel unveils aircraft “capable of spying on Iran.”
July 10 0 Israeli Prime Minister Olmert spokesman, “Israel does not threaten Iran but the Iranian nuclear program…is a matter of grave concern.”
· July 12 – Representative of the Supreme Leader, “…before the dust from these attacks settles on the ground, our armed forces will strike the very heart of Israel and 32 US military bases in the region.”
· July 13 – Iranian President, “Before the enemies can put their fingers on the trigger, the armed forces will cut off their hands.”

Iran’s President Ahmadinejad is known for off the wall rhetoric. The significant aspect of the past three weeks is that the threats are not coming from him. Except for the metaphor from him on July 13, he has been silent in the flow of threats.

What makes the past three weeks unique is that the threats have been coming from the office of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and from people who work directly for him. Ahmadinejad does not control the Revolutionary Guard, they report directly to the Supreme Leader; so, when the Commander of the Revolutionary Guard makes a public statement, it has a greater importance.

The other aspect of that past three weeks that is different is that the threats have become more specific than in any previous times I can recall. It is almost as if they were announcing what they would do rather than just making a threat to show they were serious.

Because of the source of the threats and their specifics, I think we have to take the Iranians seriously. Maybe this is not all spin.

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