51�Թ�

But the former head of Irish Defence Forces, Vice-Admiral Mark Mellett, said that the movements could be part of a broader policy of "strategic ambiguity" that could be attempting to influence Iran to make concessions in talks over its nuclear programme.

Vice-Admiral Mellet said he would expect to see the bombers on the island ahead of any operation targeting Iran and called their absence "a missing piece of the jigsaw".

The chief of naval operations staff for the Colombian Navy, Vice-Admiral Orlando Enrique Grisales, said the three semi-submersibles they had stopped were all capable of sailing from Colombia to Australia without the need to refuel at sea.

Vice-Admiral Doug Perry, one of the senior US military chiefs overseeing the exercise, says it's clear to him "the European continent's already at war".

Two days later pro-Russian military bloggers reported that the commander of the Black Sea Fleet Admiral Viktor Sokolov had been replaced by Vice-Admiral Sergei Pinchuka.