Regarding the second carrier in the Persian Gulf.
Note:The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=49725
Gates Calls Arrival of Second Carrier in Gulf ‘Reminder’ of U.S. Presence
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
MEXICO CITY, April 30, 2008 – The movement of a second aircraft carrier into the Persian Gulf this week doesn’t signal an escalation of the U.S. naval presence — but could serve as a “reminder” of it to countries in the region, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said here last night.
Gates did not specifically name Iran when responding to a reporter’s question about the arrival this week of USS Abraham Lincoln in the Gulf.
“The size of our naval presence in the Gulf rises and falls constantly,” he said. “This deployment has been planned for a long time. I don’t think we will have two carriers there for a protracted period of time. So I don’t see it as an escalation. I think it could be seen, though, as a reminder.”
Pressed by another reporter, Gates denied that heightened Defense Department criticism of Iran means it’s laying the foundation for a military strike.
Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters last week that recently manufactured Iranian weapons found in and around Basra, Iraq, prove that Iran continues meddling in Iraq in ways that hamper progress and put U.S. and Iraqi lives at risk.
Mullen said at an April 25 Pentagon news conference that he’s “increasingly concerned about Iran’s activity, not just in Iraq, but throughout the region.
“I believe recent events, especially the Basra operation, have revealed just how much and just how far Iran is reaching into Iraq to foment instability,” he said.
Mullen said he believes diplomatic, financial and international pressure is the best way to pressure Iran to reverse course. But “we are not taking any military elements off the table,” he said.
Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq who is in line for the top U.S. Central Command job, is preparing a briefing that details Iran’s activities. That report is expected in the next couple of weeks.
Gates told reporters last night that he does not believe there’s been any significant increase in Iranian support for the Taliban and others opposing the government in Afghanistan. “There is, as best as I can tell, a continuing flow, but I would still characterize it as relatively modest,” he said.
The nature of the Taliban threat has changed, he said. Large-scale firefights against Afghan and coalition forces have evolved into terrorist acts, many using improvised explosive devices and suicide bombers. Gates noted that Afghan President Hamid Karzai narrowly escaped such an attack on his life earlier this week when Taliban gunmen attacked a military parade in Kabul.
The secretary said he views the latest tactics as a sign that the Taliban recognizes the strength and firepower of the coalition forces they’re up against in Afghanistan. “They are changing their tactics, and we will have to clearly continue to adapt our tactics as well,” he said.
http://www.truthusa.com/IRAN.html
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Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=49734
Official Emphasizes Diplomacy as Best Means of Dealing With Iran
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
MEXICO CITY, April 30, 2008 – Diplomacy remains the best course for dealing with Iran, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell emphasized here today.
Morrell called news reports claiming the Defense Department is conducting new planning for wartime operations against Iran patently wrong.
“Let me make this abundantly clear,” he told reporters traveling here with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates. “There are no new directives, no new plans in the works, no efforts to plan for a possible war with Iran.”
Morrell said contingency planning is continually ongoing regarding all threats or potential threats, but said none regarding Iran indicate anything out of the ordinary.
The U.S. focus remains on diplomatic and economic pressure to get the Iranian regime to stop interfering in Iraq and the region as a whole, Morrell said. He reiterated Gates’ and Joint Chiefs Chairman Navy Adm. Mike Mullen’s assertions, however, that no option is being taken off the table, “including the military option.”
Morrell said recent signs of Iranian meddling in Iraq, including the discovery of Iraqi-made munitions with 2008 date stamps, prove Iran is not making good on its promise to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to stay out of Iraq’s affairs.
The United States has “long recognized Iran as a real problem in Iraq,” he said.
Morrell said there’s no concrete evidence that Iran has increased its activity in Iraq, “although we certainly see evidence that it continues.”