Is An Attack On Iran Imminent?

Bushco has to do something to scare the hell out of the voters.

As reports circulate of a sharp debate within the White House over possible US military action against Iran and its nuclear enrichment facilities, The Nation has learned that the Bush Administration and the Pentagon have moved up the deployment of a major "strike group" of ships, including the nuclear aircraft carrier Eisenhower as well as a cruiser, destroyer, frigate, submarine escort and supply ship, to head for the Persian Gulf, just off Iran's western coast. This information follows a report in the current issue of Time magazine, both online and in print, that a group of ships capable of mining harbors has received orders to be ready to sail for the Persian Gulf by October 1.

As Time writes in its cover story, "What Would War Look Like?," evidence of the forward deployment of minesweepers and word that the chief of naval operations had asked for a reworking of old plans for mining Iranian harbors "suggest that a much discussed--but until now largely theoretical--prospect has become real: that the U.S. may be preparing for war with Iran."

This might explain the unusual "put" activity on the markets as reported by Simbaud who also mentions the possible impending invasion.

From King of Zembla:

A put option, as explained to us many years ago by Distinguished Professor of Economics John Steed, gives a stockholder the right to unload his shares at a specified price within a specified time; it is, in cruder terms, a bet that the value of the stock is about to plummet.

So basically, this post is parroting Simbaud, but may reach different readers.

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