Iran Starts War Games...Just In Time for August 22

A few days ago I reported on a piece by Bernard Lewis who described some of his fears about what Iran might do on August 22 - this coming Tuesday. With the whole world watching and wondering, Iran has started a new round of war games:

Just days before a date that Mideast observers are worried will trigger cataclysmic events, Iran has launched a series of large-scale military exercises.

State-run television said the exercises will be defensive in nature, would occur in 14 of the country's 30 provinces, and could last as long as five weeks, according to Israelinsider.com.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad singled out Tuesday, Aug. 22 -- originally the date when Iran was expected to respond to U.N. demands for accountability regarding its nuclear plans -- as the date when Iran would respond, hinting that the response would not necessarily be diplomatic.

[...]

The military exercises, which began Saturday and involve 12 infantry regiments, is called "The Blow of Zolfaghar," in reference to a special double-edge sword that belonged to Imam Ali, one of the most revered figures of Islam for Shiite Muslims. A majority of Iran's 70 million people are Shiite.

August 22nd will dawn in Iran while it's still in the middle of the night in the U.S., but I'll bet we'll have plenty of people watching very carefully for anything that looks hostile toward Israel or the U.S.