US beefs up anti-missile cordon in Gulf

[link to www.watoday.com.au]

THE United States is accelerating the deployment of new defences against Iranian missile attacks in the Persian Gulf, placing special ships off the Iranian coast and anti-missile systems in at least four Arab countries, according to government and military officials.

The deployments come at a critical turning point in President Barack Obama's dealings with Iran's leadership. He is warning that his diplomatic outreach will now be combined with the ''consequences'', as he put it in his State of the Union address, of Iran's continued defiance on its nuclear program.

The Administration is trying to win broad international consensus for sanctions against the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, which Western nations say controls the military side of the nuclear program.

As part of that effort, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton publicly warned China on Friday that its opposition to sanctions was short-sighted.

The news that the US is deploying anti-missile defences - including rare public comments by General David Petraeus - appears to be part of a co-ordinated strategy to increase pressure on Iran.

The deployments are also partly intended to counter the impression that Iran is fast becoming the most powerful military force in the Middle East and to forestall any Iranian escalation of its confrontation with the West if new sanctions are imposed.

In addition, the US is trying to show Israel that there is no immediate need for military strikes against Iranian nuclear and missile facilities, according to Administration officials, all of whom requested anonymity.

By highlighting the defensive nature of the build-up, officials said the Obama Administration was trying to contain any Iranian threat without provoking a sharp response from Tehran.

Military officials said the countries that accepted the missiles were Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait. The Kuwaitis have agreed to take additional US-supplied missile batteries to supplement older, less capable models it deployed years ago, while it awaits delivery of an upgraded system that it is seeking from the Raytheon Corp. Saudi Arabia and Israel have long had similar equipment of their own.

General Petraeus has declined to say who was taking the US equipment, probably because many countries in the Gulf are reluctant to be publicly seen to be accepting US military aid and the troops that come with it. In fact, the names of countries where the anti-missile systems are deployed are classified, but many of them are an open secret.

General Petraeus spoke about the deployments at a conference on January 22, saying that ''Iran is clearly seen as a very serious threat by those on the other side of the Gulf front, and indeed it has been a catalyst for the implementation of the architecture that we envision and have now been trying to implement.''

He said that the acceleration of defensive systems - which began when President George Bush was in office - included eight Patriot missile batteries, ''two in each of four countries''. Patriot missiles are capable of shooting down short-range offensive missiles.

General Petraeus also described a first line of defence, saying the US was now keeping Aegis cruisers on patrol in the Persian Gulf at all times. The cruisers are equipped with both advanced radar and anti-missile systems designed to intercept medium-range missiles.

None of those systems would be useful against Iran's long-range missile, the Shahab III, but intelligence agencies believe it will be years before Iran can mount a nuclear warhead on that missile.

''Our first goal is to deter the Iranians,'' said one senior administration official, insisting on anonymity because the White House declined to answer any questions about the rationale behind the build-up.

''A second is to reassure the Arab states, so they don't feel they have to go nuclear themselves. But there is certainly an element of calming the Israelis as well.''