-The chairman of the US military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen...said last month that the Pentagon must have military options ready to counter Iran should Mr Obama call for them.
http://dailycaller.com/2010/01/31/u-s-raises-stakes-on-iran-by-sending-in-ships-and-missiles/ The Daily Caller January 31, 2010 U.S. raises stakes on Iran, deploys ships and missiles Tension between the US and Iran heightened dramatically today with the disclosure that Barack Obama is deploying a missile shield to protect American allies in the Gulf from attack by Tehran. The US is dispatching Patriot defensive missiles to four countries – Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait – and keeping two ships in the Gulf capable of shooting down Iranian missiles. Washington is also helping Saudi Arabia develop a force to protect its oil installations. American officials said the move is aimed at deterring an attack by Iran and reassuring Gulf states fearful that Tehran might react to sanctions by striking at US allies in the region. Washington is also seeking to discourage Israel from a strike against Iran by demonstrating that the US is prepared to contain any threat. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article7010364.ece The Times (London) February 1, 2010 US raises tensions with Iran by selling anti-missile systems Tim Reid in Washington -The chairman of the US military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen...said last month that the Pentagon must have military options ready to counter Iran should Mr Obama call for them. Tensions in the Gulf between the US and Iran are set to rise further after it emerged that American-made anti-missile systems are to be deployed to Washington’s Arab allies in the region. The Obama Administration said yesterday that it was speeding up arms sales to a number of states and that it had also deployed warships in the Gulf as defences against possible Iranian missile attacks. The moves...include the sales of anti-missile systems to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and.... The deployments come as President Obama enters a new phase in efforts to halt Iran’s nuclear programme after the failure of a diplomatic offensive. Washington is anxious to get a tough new round of UN sanctions against Tehran, something that China and Russia have shown little interest in backing. The new arms sales build on deals struck by George W. Bush when he was in office to develop a deterrent among the region’s Sunni nations, including Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, against the predominantly Shia Iran. The UAE and Saudi Arabia have bought more than $25 billion (£15.5 billion) of US arms in the past two years. Abu Dhabi has bought $17 billion of US hardware since 2008, including Patriot anti-missile systems, while the UAE as a whole recently bought 80 F16 jets. The Pentagon is to sell eight Patriot missile batteries, which are capable of shooting down short-range missiles, to the region — two each to Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait. Patriot batteries countered Iraqi Scud missile strikes on Israel in the 1991 Gulf War and were fired from Kuwait in the 2003 conflict with Iraq. The US is also keeping Aegis cruisers, which can shoot down medium-range missiles, on patrol in the Gulf. .... In addition the US is to help Saudi Arabia expand from 10,000 to 30,000 a specialist military force which will be used to hunt down al-Qaeda operatives and respond to potential attacks by Iranian-backed groups including Hezbollah. General David Petraeus, who as head of US Central Command is responsible for military operations across the Middle East, said this month that the US had stationed eight Patriot missile batteries in four Gulf countries, which he did not identify. The chairman of the US military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, also said last month that the Pentagon must have military options ready to counter Iran should Mr Obama call for them. =========================== Stop NATO http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato Blog site: http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/ To subscribe, send an e-mail to: [email protected] or [email protected] Daily digest option available. ==============================
