Free Republic

President Barack Obama has launched a wave of high-stakes US diplomacy in the Middle East as Washington seeks to ratchet up pressure on Iran over its nuclear program. Obama has enlisted his top deputies in the diplomatic drive to isolate Tehran and impose stricter sanctions on the regime, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, chief military officer Admiral Mike Mullen and senior diplomats travelling to the region this week and Vice President Joe Biden due next month. Clinton signaled the administration's tougher tone during a visit to the Gulf, warning on Monday that Iran was turning into a “military dictatorship”...

Kuwait has been investigating reports of an Iranian-backed Shi'ite insurgency plot. Officials said Kuwait has launched an investigation into allegations that Shi'ites funded and directed by Iran planned to attack key facilities in the Gulf Cooperation Council sheikdom. The investigation was said to center on Shi'ite soldiers in neighboring Bahrain trained in sabotage. Officials have warned of a growing Shi'ite threat in Kuwait, a Sunni-ruled country with nearly 50 percent of the population being Shi'ite. They said Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has increased surveillance and other intelligence operations in Kuwait, which hosts more than 15,000 U.S. military soldiers. "There...