Iran gearing up for war leaving Saudi Arabia and Yemen looking worse off than Israel
Saturday, February 06, 2010 [ Reads:1686 / Comments:4 / 3858 ]
While U.S. Secretary of Defence Robert Gates was expressing doubts Saturday that a deal to send Iran's uranium abroad for enrichment was close, Iranian Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi was opening two new missile production plants. This coming just three days after Iran had fired a rocket carrying live animals into space.
Notably also on the same day that Parliament speaker Ali Larijani was lambasting the West for trying to dupe Iran with a proposed nuclear fuel deal, calling it "a political swindle" designed to remove Iran's enriched uranium" from the Islamic republic.
Yesterday his foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki was advising the world that the agreement on uranium was close.
EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton also weighed in on Saturday by telling Iran that it had to formally respond to the UN atomic agency proposals in order to "build badly needed confidence". She confirmed that years of talks with her predecessor Javier Solana and his colleagues took place against a backdrop of Iranian work that was continuing contrary to the rules of the safeguard system by which everyone is bound.
This in direct response to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who said in a television interview on Tuesday that Tehran would have "no problem" with the proposal.
Western powers,however suspect that the Iranian President is simply using delaying tactics to avoid further UN Security Council sanctions.
And so it goes on and on.
At the eleventh hour Iran promising cooperation but as soon as the parties suggest putting it down in writing they back off under some or other pretext. Russia and China invariably giving them an out.
The indications are that Iran will stop at nothing to achieve a nuclear capability in order to free up their military both at home and in the region.
In respect of the former, armed with a nuclear umbrella, they could remove any resistance to the Islamic Revolution while ignoring outside threats as so much hot air. Nobody is going to invade them.
In respect of the region the one player who can safely assume that Iran won't be invading is Israel. Should they opt for a conventional war or a nuclear attack they would be inviting the end of Iran. Israel would respond tenfold.
That comfort is not available to Saudi Arabia, Yemen or even Iraq with Tehran sniffing around the neighbourhood. There is no doubting Iran's support for rebels in Yemen, they've crossed the border into Iraq to measure the response in respect of disputed oilfields and warned the Saudis what will happen if they interfere with the problem in Yemen.
That is a random sample.
This from a country that is openly supporting militants across the region.
In respect of their missile capabilities the new plants will produce a ground-to-air missile dubbed the Qaem (Rising) and a surface-to-surface missile dubbed Toofan 5 (Storm).
The Qaem is designed to target helicopters at low and medium altitudes. It is a missile which can destroy targets in the air travelling at low speed and at low altitude, especially assault helicopters
Toofan 5 is one of the most advanced missiles. It has two warheads which can destroy tanks and other armoured vehicles. .
In December Iran tested the Sejil 2 (Lethal Stone) missile, describing it as a faster version of a medium-range missile that could allow it to strike arch-foe Israel.
The United States and its regional ally Israel have not ruled out a military option to stop Tehran's controversial nuclear drive.
Tehran has in turn warned that it will target US bases in the region and block the strategic Gulf Strait of Hormuz waterway for oil tankers if its nuclear sites are attacked.
What is patently clear is that while striving for a nuclear capability Iran is simultaneously strengthening its ground and air forces making it a very definite threat in terms of invading its near neighbours.
If it was acting purely defensively then a nuclear deterrent coupled to existing military resources would be overwhelmingly sufficient to take care of any domestic bother.
This goes way beyond domestic use.
While the world might have been shocked by Saddam's invasion of Kuwait nobody should be surprised the day Iranian forces cross their borders into neighbouring territory.
On that day perhaps the UN will have the sense to tell China and Russia to clean up their mess.
