As Iran makes noise about possibly closing the Hormuz strait, Israel is planning its own missile defense drill with American help, and while the U.S. ally says the drill has nothing to do with Iran's recent muscle-flexing, Iranian press outlet described it as Israel trying to start a war. That's exactly what the west thinks Iran's doing with its Hormuz strait exercises, and why Europe is trying to embargo Iran's oil. The story from Iran's state-run broadcaster PressTV, which Business Insider pointed to Thursday morning, refers to a U.S. military agreement with Israel from Dec. 20. Oddly, the PressTV report headlined "US deploys troops in Israel for Iran war," doesn't actually cite a source for that assertion or even quote anyone saying the U.S. or Israel are readying for a war. Just before noon on Thursday, the AP reported that the joint Israeli-U.S. operation was an official thing, and would go ahead under the code name Austere Challenge 12. The AP says a date hasn't been set for the operation, but PressTV wrote that it would take place in January -- an assertion it attributed to the site Global Research, which doesn't look very reliable.

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Adam Martin