US Leads Ten Nations in Military Exercise, Marks Formation of Military Coalition to Check Iran

According to a report by [Chinese National Radio’s] Voice of China on its “Peak Evening News” program, from April 8-18, the air forces of the U.S. and nine Middle Eastern nations will hold a joint military exercise in the Gulf state of Bahrain. The operation is codenamed “Main Connection 2012.”

What is the objective of the U.S.-led military exercise and why choose to conduct it in Bahrain? Military expert and National Defense University professor Meng Xiangqing provides in-depth analysis.

The joint maneuvers have also been called the “1+9” military exercise by outsiders. Other than the U.S., participating nations include nine Middle Eastern states: Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, the UAE, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan. Why, then, is the U.S. leading the exercise?

Observer Meng Xiangqing answers: “Firstly, from a military perspective, this type of large-scale aerial exercise is essentially sending a very hard-line signal to Iran, saying that if you dare use nuclear provocation, if you close the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. will establish an enormously powerful military alliance to stop Iran. Secondly, there is the political aspect. Among the nine nations [other than the U.S.], besides the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council, there are the additions of Turkey, Pakistan and, of course, Jordan (as an applicant to the GCC). These are all Muslim nations and all have various disputes with Iran. In reality, this joint exercise is, in political terms, releasing definitive information to the international community and Iran that a coalition to check Iran has already been formed under U.S. leadership.”

For the host country, Bahrain, this military exercise is one of the most important of the last twenty years. Why was Bahrain the chosen site? Meng Xiangqing explains that Bahrain is the location of the Middle East headquarters for the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, so it is of high military value.

“We know that the Fifth Fleet is one of the U.S. Navy’s six major fleets and is the strongest naval force that America has stationed in the Middle East. If we look at its geographical location on the map, lying directly across the Persian Gulf from Bahrain is Iran, so [Bahrain] is also an important piece in U.S. military Middle Eastern deployments [aimed at] controlling Iran. Moreover, one can say that Bahrain is also America’s command center for all its military bases, as well as naval and air forces in the Middle East. Therefore, conducting a military exercise there obviously sends the most direct signal to Iran; this is the first [reason].

“The second [reason] is that the Bahraini royal family and government are close allies of America. Bahrain is an extremely small nation. Its population is only about half a million. However, 70 percent of its population adheres to the Shia sect of Islam, while the royal family, government and major officials are primarily Sunni. This 70-plus percent Shiite majority has countless ties with Shiites in Iran, so everybody probably remembers that, when there were large-scale anti-government demonstrations in Bahrain last year, it was mostly the Shiite populace trying to overthrow the Sunni minority. At the time, the U.S. was very worried that if the Shiites took power they would deepen relations with Iran. Subsequently, after Bahrain suppressed the protests, when reporters interviewing Obama said that the cruel [means of] suppression were at odds with America’s values of freedom and democracy, Obama said that he was not clear on the validity of reports, which was essentially a tacit approval of the Bahraini government’s suppression of Shia Muslims. From this we can see that America believes the pro-U.S. Bahraini government still has some special role to play.”