U.S. seeks fiber-optic cable for Guantanamo Bay
The U.S. military hopes to install a $40 million underwater fiber-optic cable to improve communications at Guantanamo Bay.
A spokesman for the Guantanamo military commissions says the cable would run 800 miles from Guantanamo Bay to South Florida. Army Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale said July 9 that the system could start operating within two years.
The base currently relies on a single satellite and technicians have to constantly reroute bandwidths to meet the needs of various organizations based in Guantanamo.
Cuban authorities have been notified about the project, and the survey ship USNS Zeus is expected to arrive at the naval base in upcoming weeks.
The fiber-optic cable project is proposed in the fiscal 2013 budget and would require congressional approval. AP
Iran says it has plan to close Strait of Hormuz
The chairman of the Iranian military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff says Tehran will block the strategic Strait of Hormuz if it determines that the Islamic Republic’s interests are seriously threatened.
Gen. Hasan Firouzabadi’s comments July 7 to Iranian media come less than a week after the European Union imposed an embargo on Iran’s vital oil-sector to pressure Tehran over its disputed nuclear program.
The U.S. and its allies accuse Iran of seeking nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies.
Firouzabadi did not specify what would constitute a threat to Iran’s interests, and did not mention the new EU sanctions.
But Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard has warned in the past that it would close the strait, through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil is shipped, if Tehran’s oil exports are blocked. AP
