http://news.antiwar.com/2012/04/30/gulf-states-provoke-iran-with-military-exercises-using-false-pretext/
The exercises, carried out by the Peninsula Shield Force of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), are titled “Islands of Loyalty,” in reference to the Abu Musa and Tunb islets, which Iran has had sovereignty over for 40 years, but which the United Arab Emirates claims is their rightful territory.
The first round of talks between Iran and the P5+1 grouping comprising the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany, took place in Istanbul reportedly went well. Both the U.S. and Iran appeared ready to make concessions and there was a considerable amount of optimism coming out of the negotiations that a settlement is in the works.
Gulf States Provoke Iran With Military Exercises Using False Pretext
The US-backed Sunni Gulf states are really in competition with Iran for regional hegemony
by John Glaser, April 30, 2012
The Sunni Arab regimes of the Persian Gulf have engaged in military exercises this week while drawing attention to disputed Iranian islands in the Strait of Hormuz in an attempt to ratchet up pressure on the Shiite Islamic Republic.
The exercises, carried out by the Peninsula Shield Force of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), are titled “Islands of Loyalty,” in reference to the Abu Musa and Tunb islets, which Iran has had sovereignty over for 40 years, but which the United Arab Emirates claims is their rightful territory.
The territorial issue of the islands has been dormant since Iran took control of them in 1971, when British forces withdrew. The UAE, backed by the GCC military, are only now making noise about them as a pretext for an international effort against Iran at an opportune time on the heels of high-level talks over Iran’s nuclear program.
The Gulf states are heavily backed by the West and particularly the United States. Not only are they as adamant as the U.S. and Israel that Iran’s nuclear program be neutered and that Iran be prevented from gaining any more regional influence, but they are in the midst of instability as Shiite Arab Spring protesters challenge their rule. They fear Shiite Iran, allied with Shiite Iraq, is gaining ground.
“While analysts do not believe that the Gulf countries would go as far as to risk outright war with Iran,” writes Anshel Pfeffer for Haaretz, ”it would be useful to remember that not for nothing have the two main Sunni Gulf states, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, built up huge air forces fielding hundreds of front-line American, British and French fighter jets (U.S. General Petraeus said a couple of years ago that ‘the Emirati Air Force itself could take out the entire Iranian Air Force’).”
“And if that’s not enough,” Pfeffer continues, “the United States seems to have found the best timing to station a squadron of F-22s, the most advanced warplane in the world, at Al-Dhafra airbase in the UAE, joining the spy planes and aerial tankers of the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing already based there, just across the Gulf.”
These actions illustrate the geopolitical forces at work when the U.S. and its Sunni Arab clients construct policies antagonistic toward Iran, as opposed to the pretexts like tiny islets and a non-existent nuclear weapons program.
and.....
http://news.antiwar.com/2012/04/30/at-baghdad-talks-west-should-lift-illogical-sanctions-says-iran-aide/
At Baghdad Talks, West Should Lift ‘Illogical Sanctions,’ Says Iran Aide
By and large, all parties expect the second round of Iran nuclear talks to be productive
by John Glaser, April 30, 2012
The second round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the six major world powers, scheduled for May 23 in Baghdad, will be productive but are unlikely to resolve all issues, said an Iranian official on Monday.
The first round of talks between Iran and the P5+1 grouping comprising the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany, took place in Istanbul reportedly went well. Both the U.S. and Iran appeared ready to make concessions and there was a considerable amount of optimism coming out of the negotiations that a settlement is in the works.
“Although one should not expect for all issues to be resolved in Baghdad, we can assume the (atmosphere) of the talks will follow in the footsteps of Istanbul,” said Gholam Ali Hadad Adel, a lawmaker and senior adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Hadad Adel that the “illogical sanctions” should be lifted at the meeting. ”Iran expects the P5+1 group to put an end to the illogical sanctions in Baghdad, because the inefficiency of sanctions is proven even for Western leaders,” he said.
“They can show their goodwill through a trust-building effort by” lifting the sanctions, he added.
That is unlikely to happen until the end of negotiations, if at all, since the West has been using the sanctions as leverage against Iran throughout the talks. But Hadad Adel is correct, sanctions are effective only at impoverishing civilians and emboldening the targeted regime. But even more than that, they are illegitimate since Washington claims their purpose is pressuring Tehran to halt their weapons program, which the U.S. intelligence community believes does not even exist.
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