Gary North sounds as if he was taken a little off guard by recent naval movements:
The most important news for the month of August was the fact that President Bush has quietly sent the largest armada into the Persian Gulf since the Iraq war began in 2003, when there were six carrier groups. This is a huge number of ships to be concentrated in one location in peacetime.
This story has been completely ignored by the news media all over the West. The only coverage is from special-interest websites.
I’ve been paying attention to this myself, although I haven’t wanted to cry wolf having been wrong about this last summer. I’ve been expecting some sort of Iran strike before Bush leaves office. I know there’s been a large number of false alarms with regards to Iran, but then, such a remarkable assembling of forces seldom takes place without there being a purpose for it.
It could be mere sabre-rattling, but I doubt it. Surely one or two carrier groups would suffice for that. As Stratfor noted last week, preparations for an Iran strike help explain the near-complete non-response to Russia’s activity in Georgia.