What do Bold Alligator 2012 and Operation Brimstone 2008 have in common?

Cape Fear.

More specifically, Cape Fear River. A two-hundred-mile-long blackwater river in North Carolina that empties into the Atlantic at Cape Fear, just past Wilmington, NC.

It is notable for one particular bend in the river that just happens to be very much like the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf… including a large near-shore island bearing a striking resemblance to Kharg island, home of a heavily defended Iranian oil depot and supertanker filling facility.

July 21-31, 2008. Operation Brimstone takes place in North Carolina and off the eastern U.S. coast from Virginia to Florida, in association with military forces of France, Brazil and the United Kingdom, according to publicly open information from the U.S. Navy. Although not put exactly this way in official releases, the operation focused on practicing blockading, interdiction and boarding tactics. The bend in Cape Fear River was a focal point, but there were also exercises on the open ocean, and expeditionary strike force landings on the beaches of eastern America.

Iran was never mentioned in official releases. But after the exercises, the forces involved - which included 15,000 services members from the four countries - sailed menacingly for the Persian Gulf. It looked like an embargo of Iranian oil was about to be enforced via a naval blockade.

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