BUB: Iran

Secretary of Defense Gates is schmoozing his way around the Persian Gulf and trying to keep the encirclement of Iran intact.

The predominantly Sunni Arab Middle East — and Gulf nations in particular — have been wary of the growing influence of Shiite Iran, and Saudi Arabia has long warned of the potential for a nuclear arms race in the Gulf region if Iran gained the bomb. Saudi Arabia and other Sunni states see Iran's expanding missile capability as an even more immediate threat.
The U.S. military is trying to reassure Gulf allies by buttressing its defense systems with upgraded Patriot missiles on land and more U.S. Navy ships capable of destroying missiles in flight.
The Patriot missile systems, which originally were deployed in the region to shoot down aircraft, have now been upgraded to hit missiles in flight.
Petraeus revealed in January that the U.S. now has eight Patriot missile batteries stationed in the Gulf region — two each in four countries. He did not name the countries, but a military official told The Associated Press that they are Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because some aspects of the defensive strategy are classified.
Iran has missiles with ranges of more than 1,250 miles, capable of striking Israel or U.S. bases in the region. Iranian missiles could also hit near neighbors such as Saudi Arabia, although Iran denies any such intent.
The United States and its Western allies have been pushing for a fourth round of U.N. sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, especially because it refuses to freeze its uranium enrichment program and due to belated revelations that it was building a secret, fortified plant.

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Iran's leader is pointing out the folly of previous US strategic decisions vis-a-vis Afghanistan.

Taking aim at the U.S., Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that it's the United States that is playing a "double game" in Afghanistan, fighting terrorists it once supported.
At a news conference in the Afghan capital, Ahmadinejad was asked to respond to U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who earlier in the week accused Tehran of "playing a double game" by trying to have a good relationship with the Afghan government while undermining U.S. and NATO efforts by providing some support to the Taliban.
Tehran has said it supports the Afghan government and denies allegations that it helps the Taliban. Iran calls the accusation part of a broad anti-Iranian campaign and says it makes no sense that its Shiite-led government would help the fundamentalist Sunni movement of the Taliban.
"I believe that they themselves," who are now fighting militants in Afghanistan, "are playing a double game," he said. "They themselves created terrorists and now they're saying that they are fighting terrorists."
During the 10 years the that the Soviet Union fought in Afghanistan, the U.S. supplied rebels with supplies ranging from mules to advanced weaponry, including Stinger anti-aircraft missiles that played a crucial role in neutralizing Soviet air power. The U.S. money spigot, however, was later turned off and the world watched Afghanistan plunge into chaos and eventually harbor al-Qaida terrorists.
Gates, who left Afghanistan shortly before Ahmadinejad spoke, called Ahmadinejad's visit to Kabul "certainly fodder for all the conspiratorialists."

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And the former head of the Mossad thinks it's time to just bomb the ever-living crap out of them.

The world needs to get ready to use military force to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear bomb, the former head of the Israeli intelligence service said Tuesday in Berlin.
Danny Yatom, who headed Mossad from 1996-98, said the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran poses the greatest threat to global security, "even more so than international terrorism."
The Western sanctions -- the third wave -- will not stop Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons, Yatom said at a security conference Tuesday in Berlin.
That's why "the entire world should take military action to prevent Iran from getting a bomb," he said at the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin.
Years of diplomatic efforts have failed to convince Iran to halt uranium enrichment, which Israel and the West believe is part of a nuclear weapons program. Tehran denies the charge, arguing it develops nuclear for peaceful energy purposes.

By: Brant