Fake US aircraft carrier in Arabian Gulf is a movie set, says Iranian media


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A replica of a US aircraft carrier spotted near the coast of Iran is nothing more sinister than a movie set, Iranian media said on Sunday.

The New York Times, quoting US intelligence, said last week that the Iranians were building a mock-up of a US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, possibly so they could then blow it up for propaganda purposes.

Satellite photos showed what looked like one of the US Navy’s Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, complete with planes, rising from Iran’s Gachin shipyard, near the port of Bandar Abbas.

Iranian newspapers said it was “part of the decor” of a movie being made by Iranian director Nader Talebzadeh on the 1988 shooting down of an Iran Air civilian plane by the USS Vincennes. The United States says the downing of the plane, which killed all 290 passengers and crew, was an accident.

“The issue has turned into a good excuse for another wave of hype against Iran,” said the Alef news website which carries views close to the official line in Iran.

“Without any proof or real basis, Western media have jumped again to paint a more negative picture of Iran.”

A spokesman for the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain acknowledged that the replica was “more akin to a Hollywood set than a warship”.

“We know it’s not an actual aircraft carrier. It’s made to look like one of ours ... but makes us wonder: what is it all for?” Jason Salata said.

“We’ve seen them make target barges before and tow them and shoot them out as missile exercises and use it for state-run media. This one is a little bit of a head-scratcher. If you’re spending resources on this, what would it be for?”

Iranian officials were not available to comment.

* Reuters

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An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo

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Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months

Score

New Zealand 266 for 9 in 50 overs
Pakistan 219 all out in 47.2 overs 

New Zealand win by 47 runs

New Zealand lead three-match ODI series 1-0

Next match: Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi, Friday

T20 SQUADS

Australia: Aaron Finch (c), Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa.

Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (c), Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Hussain Talat, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan Shinwari, Hassan Ali, Imad Wasim, Waqas Maqsood, Faheem Ashraf.

Series information

Pakistan v Dubai

First Test, Dubai International Stadium

Sun Oct 6 to Thu Oct 11

Second Test, Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Tue Oct 16 to Sat Oct 20          

 Play starts at 10am each day

 

Teams

 Pakistan

1 Mohammed Hafeez, 2 Imam-ul-Haq, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Asad Shafiq, 5 Haris Sohail, 6 Babar Azam, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed, 8 Bilal Asif, 9 Yasir Shah, 10, Mohammed Abbas, 11 Wahab Riaz or Mir Hamza

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1 Usman Khawaja, 2 Aaron Finch, 3 Shaun Marsh, 4 Mitchell Marsh, 5 Travis Head, 6 Marnus Labuschagne, 7 Tim Paine, 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Peter Siddle, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Jon Holland

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Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994

Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers

Scoreline

Abu Dhabi Harlequins 17

Jebel Ali Dragons 20

Harlequins Tries: Kinivilliame, Stevenson; Cons: Stevenson 2; Pen: Stevenson

Dragons Tries: Naisau, Fourie; Cons: Love 2; Pens: Love 2