THESE PEOPLE ARE SERIOUS – AT 8:40 A.M. ET:  And we hope Washington is just as serious.  The Iranians are conducting naval maneuvers, threatening to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz, and now they're getting ready to fire long-range missiles. 

(Reuters) - Iran will fire long-range missiles during a naval drill in the Gulf Saturday, a semi-official news agency reported, a show of force at a time when Iran has threatened to close shipping lanes if the West imposes sanctions on its oil exports.

Iran has long-range missile systems including the Shahab-3, which could reach Israel and U.S. bases in the Middle East.

In the past week it has threatened to stop ships moving through the strategic Strait of Hormuz if sanctions are imposed on its oil exports over its disputed nuclear program, increasing tension in a long-running standoff with the West.

"The Iranian navy will test several kinds of its missiles, including its long-range missiles, in the Persian Gulf on Saturday," Admiral Mahmoud Mousavi, deputy commander of the Iranian navy, told Fars news agency.

COMMENT:  Some members of the "aren't we bright" club of foreign policy experts reassure us that it would be irrational for Iran to seal the Strait of Hormuz because it would be hurting its own economy.  But who can be sure that the Iranians will act rationally?  It wasn't very rational for the Japanese to attack Pearl Harbor, knowing our industrial might.  It wasn't very rational for Hitler to invade the Soviet Union.  And it wasn't all that smart for Khrushchev to put missiles in Cuba, only 90 miles off our shore.  All three things happened.

December 30, 2011