By Press TV
A report has revealed that thousands of US troops have arrived in the Yemeni island of Socotra for a possible military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The troops built up comes a few months after the announcement of the creation of a US Army base near Yemeni waters, Islam Today website reported.
This is while Yemen had said that it rejected a deal with Washington for having a temporary military base in the island.
Socotra, which is situated 80 kilometers east of the Horn of Africa and 380 kilometers southeast of the Yemeni coastline, lies athwart the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
The United States has been quietly building giant air force and naval bases on Socotra since 2010 with facilities for submarines, intelligence command centers and take-off pads for flying stealth drones.
The secret Socotra facilities are never mentioned in any catalogue listing US military facilities in this part of the world, which include Jebel Ali and al-Dahfra in the United Arab Emirates; Arifjan in Kuwait; and al-Udeid in Qatar.
The US and Israel have repeatedly threatened Tehran with the “option” of a military strike, saying Iran’s nuclear program may include a covert military aspect, a claim strongly rejected by Tehran.
Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has never found any evidence indicating that Tehran’s civilian nuclear program has been diverted towards nuclear weapons production.