Has the Threat of an EMP Increased?

As I mentioned in The Difference Between an EMP and a Solar Flare, I believe that the threat of a conventional nuclear or an EMP strike on American soil has increased. I, of course, am talking about Iran’s claims that they will be sending their naval fleet to a position off the coast of the United States. Before I go any further, let me be clear, I do not believe Iran’s Navy poses any threat by a traditional naval attack. That being said, I do believe, as I stated, that the chance of a nuclear strike has increased.

If you’re not familiar with the news item, FOX News covered it in this article called Iran sending warships close to US borders. On a side note, multiple sources for this story have pulled their articles. Here is another article from the Washington Examiner that states: Expert: Iran ships a dry run for later nuclear/EMP attack; humiliate Obama.

To help explain why I believe that the threat of an EMP or traditional nuclear attack has increased, I’ll use the following metaphor; You are the captain of a very successful bowling team, winning several tournaments across the state. Many other teams have your team in their sites. Some teams talk trash, but for the most part everyone has a good clean time, except for Joe Dirtbag from the next town over. Joe’s team never finishes very high in any of the tournaments, which makes him and the Dirt-Balls hate you even more.

Joe has made some threats about how he is going to “kick your butt”, “Wipe you from the map” and on and on. Because Joe’s team practices at a different bowling alley and because there is no way his team could even come close to beating your team, even if you gave them a three frame lead, you dismiss Joe and laugh off his threats, until Joe starts posting on social media that he is going to come to your house and shoot you and your family. You don’t know if Joe is serious or if he even owns a gun.

Now, if you are prudent, I believe you live your life normally while keeping an eye out for Joe. You should maintain this vigilance until enough time has passed where you feel sure Joe isn’t showing up. However, if Joe shows up at your spouse’s work, your kid’s school or across the street, you would be a fool not to think the threat has increased.
 

But Is Iran a Threat?

Iran puffing up and making wild claims is nothing new. In fact, here is an article from the Times of Israel with the headline Iran: We’re ready for ‘decisive battle’ with Israel, US Let me clarify. If Iran doesn’t show up on our shores, obviously the threat hasn’t increased. They’ve made some pretty silly claims over the years, so them being a no-show is a high possibility. However, if they do start to patrol just outside of our borders in international waters (most countries agree that this is 3 miles from the coast), then yes, I believe the threat has increased.

I have written a few times on how Iran doesn’t have the missile technology to launch a strike of any kind from its borders to attack ours. But if they were to place a nuclear payload on one of their current missiles and hide it on a cargo container ship, they could launch an attack from international waters outside of American soil. I am not the first to think of this. You might recall that Steve from AlertsUSA said in a Q/A session from March of 2013:

“Chris:

While many countries such as North Korea or Iran, don’t have the missile capability to launch a nuke from their country to land on the continental USA, (I know North Korea either has gotten the technology or is close to having it). Would it be possible for them to hide a missile on a ship carrying shipping containers, and launch an EMP style attack from a hundred miles from our shores?

AlertsUSA:

“In addition to that written above, this is most certainly a possibility. The USGOV certainly appears to be bolstering East Coast surveillance and defenses against some type of threat.

Consider the following:

In January, it was announced that the U.S. defense department would be closing down a balloon surveillance program being run on the U.S. / Mexico border known as TARS, or the Tethered Aerostat Radar System (TARS), which was an aerostat-borne surveillance program used to support counter-narcotic operations, mostly in southern border regions. Four TARS are deployed in Texas, two in Arizona and one in New Mexico, Florida, Louisiana and Puerto Rico.

In news released this February, a system similar to TARS known as JLENS, or the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System will soon be deployed around Washington DC. This begs the question: Why would such a surveillance system need to be “tested” around our the National Capital Region, already one of the most heavily monitored and defended areas in the country?”

 
Closing

While Iran obviously cannot stand toe-to-toe with the military might of the United States, they don’t need to in order to bring the USA to its knees. Look at how much Al-Qaeda was able to accomplish with just three planes.

I’m no chicken-little, claiming the sky is falling, but when someone makes claims that they want to destroy you and then show up at your front door, it is prudent to start acting like they believe they can and that they want to try.

 
Please click here to vote for Prepared Christian as a top Prepper site!

If you liked this article please think about sharing it on the social media listed below, thanks!