Some 20,000 marines, seamen and air crews from half a dozen countries, a US
nuclear aircraft carrier strike group and three US Marine gunship carriers
are practicing an attack on a fictitious mechanized enemy division which
has invaded its neighbor. It is the largest amphibian exercise seen in the
West for a decade, staged to simulate a potential Iranian invasion of an
allied Persian Gulf country and a marine landing on the Iranian coast.
Based largely on US personnel and hardware, French, British, Italian,
Dutch, Australian and New Zealand military elements are integrated in the
drill.

Bold Alligator went into its operational phase Monday, Feb. 6, the same day
as a large-scale exercise began in southern Iran opposite the Strait of
Hormuz. This simultaneity attests to the preparations for a US-Iranian
showdown involving Israel behind the words on Feb. 5 of US President Barack
Obama ("I don't think Israel has decided whether to attack Iran") and
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Feb. 3 ("The war itself will be ten times as
detrimental to the US.").

Monday, Feb. 6, the US president ordered the tightening of sanctions by
freezing Iranian assets in America and blocking the operations of Iranian
banks including its central bank.
US Rear Adm. Kevin Scott and Brig. Gen. Christopher Owens are coordinating
the exercise over large stretches of coastal terrain in Virginia, North
Carolina and Florida and Atlantic Ocean from the USS Wasp amphibian
helicopter carrier. It is led by the USS Enterprise nuclear carrier with
strike force alongside three amphibian helicopter carriers, the USS Wasp,
the USS Boxer and the USS Kearsage. On their decks are 6,000 Marines, 25
fighter bombers and 65 strike and transport helicopters, mainly MV-22B
Ospreys with their crews. Altogether 100 combat aircraft are involved.
The exercise is scheduled to end on February 14, a week before the winding
up of the Iranian drill, after which the participants are to be shipped out
to Persian Gulf positions opposite Iran. (...)

http://www.debka.com/article/21716/