US AGAINST MILITARY EXERCISES LED BY FRANCE IN PERSIAN GULF
ABU DHABI 3rd Feb. (IPS) As more than 5000 French servicemen took part in joint air, land and naval manoeuvres with forces of some Persian Gulf Arab nations, including the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar, an American think tank said the exercises were attacked by Iranian leaders.
The military exercises that started on the very end of January are to last for another two weeks with the French throwing in some of their best and modern warfare like the Leclerc advanced tanks, Mirage 2000 jetfighters, helicopters gunship, anti-aircraft units, navy patrols, radar equipment, a nuclear attack submarine and the ageing plane carrier Foch that is making its last farewell trip.
Since the end of the Gulf War, the three big Western powers, the United States, Britain and France that are also the major arms dealers to the countries of the region except Iran routinely hold joint military manoeuvres in the Persian Gulf.
Among all the "multinational" manoeuvres the French organised with the countries of the region since 1996, the present one, baptised "Gulf 2000" are the largest and most important ever held.
That's probably why the Americans that have the largest military presence in the Persian Gulf, do not much appreciate the Franco-Persian Gulf Arab nations manoeuvres, probably considering them as an "interference" in their zone of influence.
In the view of the Stratfor organisation, a US think tank, the Iranians have expressed their opposition to these manoeuvres.
In a speech pronounced days before the start of the "Gulf 2000" exercises, President Mohammad Khatami, while touring some Iranian cities and ports situated on the Persian Gulf, criticised the presence of foreign forces in the region, repeating that only Iran and the countries of the strategic water-way should be responsible for the security and peace of the Persian Gulf.
Though this was a routine observation by an Iranian official, however, the US think tank, in an article, presented these remarks as being directed against France and the coming joint military manoeuvres, while, as everyone knows, by foreign military presence, Iranian officials mostly means, and denounces the United States.
The Stratfor said by organising the exercise, France was boosting its presence in this vital and strategic region of the world that has the largest reserve of oil, observing that Paris has the privilege of having good relations with both sides of the water-way.
The question for the US-based analysis providing organisation was to know if France would be able to maintain the balance between its economic and political interests in this region, an exercise more difficult than military ones. ENDS MANOEUVRES 3200