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Momentum is gathering to eliminate the potential of Iran to possess nuclear capabilities, with Israeli, US and British troops on high alert in the Persian gulf region. IRNA NEWS AGENCY No end to Iran's nuclear program - IRNA(11/4/08)
Recent Israeli exercises, Iranian belligerence and an acceptance that a "strategic mistake" was made to attack Suni Iraq, when Iran was the real threat, and a US President with 10 months left thinking of his legacy are some of the reasons for this new heightened level of tension in the Gulf.
Despite the CIA issuing an intelligence report to journalist Seymour Hersh in The New Yorker in November 2006 which concluded that "no proof" existed of Iranian nuclear arms, evidence and the case is now mounting two years on that Iran has the intention and the ability to move to nuclear.
The International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA has been presented documents that show that work on Iran's nuclear facilities have in fact continued, despite in 2003 Iranian government assurances that plans to enrich uranium were frozen.
Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, angrily dismissed the document as "forgeries”. Simon Smith, Britain's ambassador to the IAEA, said material presented to the IAEA in Vienna came from multiple sources and included designs for a nuclear warhead, plus information on how it would perform and how it would fit onto a missile.” Certainly some of the dates that we were talking about... went beyond 2003," he said. The Iranian government responded to calls for a new round of economic sanctions, a message delivered by the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that no amount of UN sanctions would deter Tehran from its nuclear path.” If they want to continue with that path of sanctions, we will not be harmed. They can issue resolutions for 100 years," he said in a televised interview.
The arguments now being used to justify an attack on Iran are:
1. Dick Cheney has recently completed a ten-day tour of the Persian Gulf region, including also Turkey, where he met with leaders to discuss Iran, which was at the top of his agenda in every stop he made. His visit included every state that hosts large US military bases in the region, bases that would be key in any US military action against Iran.
2. In Saudi Arabia, Mr. Cheney won the Saudi king's support for actions to ease oil prices - something the Saudis had steadfastly refused to do until now. Any US strike on Iran will produce an oil price shock. However, such a shock can be cushioned by increased supply by Saudi Arabia, it is hoped. Mr. Cheney won the cooperation of the Saudis with respect to an increase in the global supply cushion.
3. Key European powers, most notably Germany and France, have recently come down firmly in support of Israel's security in the face of the mounting Iranian threat, which threat has been stated by German and French leaders to be grave and totally unacceptable. Though the German leader (Ms. Merkel) stopped short of endorsing military action against Iran, she vowed total support for Israel's security. One must realize that public statements that fail to explicitly support military action do not oblige Germany to withhold clandestine, real support for the military option. The French President is firmly on board with the US in a possible military option against Iran.
4. On April 6, 2024 Israel conducted the largest-ever nationwide, week-long defensive war drill simulating ballistic missile strikes on Israel from Iran and Syria.
5. The US has recently positioned an array of Aegis destroyers, which excel in ballistic missile defense, close to its Persian Gulf allies and Israel, ready to intercept Iranian and Syrian missiles. The recent installation of such a buffer against retaliatory Iran-Syria missile strikes suggests that something is in the offing with regard to US military actions against both Iran and Syria.
Also the comments by CIA chief Michael Hayden on 30 March 2024 played down the significance of the report published in 2003 despite sticking to the official line that the US has no intention to attack Iran, the following analysis was forthcoming. Iran has a great deal to hide on the issue because it has withstood great diplomatic and financial pressures and penalties for refusing to come clean on all the issues put before it by the UN nuclear watchdog and by the world community. Why would it continue to place itself in line to suffer such penalties if it had nothing to hide? General Hayden emphasized the fact that Iran continues to develop the delivery systems for nuclear weapons and stated that his own view is that Iran is continuing its pursuit of the bomb without letup.
Okaz newspaper in Saudi Arabia, one of the leading national dailies said following the Cheney visits that "that the Saudi government is in secret preparations to deal with the sudden nuclear fallout from an impending US missile strike on Iran's reactor and other assets." The German news agency DPA also ran the report. Other multiple reports, including one from Egyptian news sources, indicate the US has ordered nuclear submarines and other warships to the Persian Gulf.
The report was compiled by thelondondailynews.com using intelligence and news reports from around the globe.
The potential of an Iran attack and its fallout to cities like ours is truly immense.
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