US navy to stage oil spill exercise at Bahrain port
MANAMA (AFP) — US naval forces in the Gulf are on Tuesday to conduct a crisis response exercise involving a mock oil spill at a Bahraini port, the US Fifth Fleet said.
US forces began exercises in the Gulf on Thursday including response to "a tropical cyclone that devastates a notional regional nation, destroying its critical infrastructure ... and displacing thousands of citizens," the Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet said.
It said the week-long drills will also include a response to a mock oil spill from a damaged tanker at sea, to be staged at Mina Salman Port in Manama on Tuesday.
The Fifth Fleet earlier said the exercises were aimed at enhancing capacity to respond to crises, and it linked the drills to potential disaster situations or oil spills without mentioning military conflict.
But the exercises come as the White House ramps up its rhetoric against Iran, warning of "World War III" if Tehran obtained atomic weapons.
Britain has announced it will send an aircraft carrier to the Gulf in early 2008, although it said the deployment was not linked to possible military action against Iran, which denies seeking an atomic bomb.
