According to Lieut. Mike Kafka, a spokesman at the headquarters of the Second Fleet, based in Norfolk, Virginia, the Eisenhower Strike Group has received recent orders to depart the United States in a little over a week. Other official sources in the public affairs office of the Navy Department at the Pentagon confirm that this powerful armada is scheduled to arrive off the coast of Iran on or around October 21.

S&P 100 Implied Volatility

Military Escalation:

Earlier today, IFX and AFP reported the following headlines:

12:58 *INTERFAX CITES RUSSIAN NUCLEAR CHIEF KIRIYENKO ON IRAN PLANT
12:57 *RUSSIAN-BUILT ATOMIC PLANT IN IRAN TO START IN YEAR, IFX SAYS

Later in the day the following broke:

According to Time, a deployment of minesweepers to the east coast of Iran would suggest this much discussed prospect has become real. The ships, a submarine, an Aegis-class cruiser, two minesweepers and two minehunters, were given the Prepare to Deploy order. They have not been ordered out of port, says the magazine, but told to be ready to move by October 1.