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Increased US military activity in the Gulf is aimed at Iran's "very negative" behaviour, the Bush administration said today. The defence secretary, Robert Gates, told reporters that the decision to deploy a Patriot missile battalion and a second aircraft carrier to the Gulf in conjunction with a "surge" of troops in Iraq was designed to show Iran that the US was not "overcommitted" in Iraq. Speaking in Brussels after meeting Nato officials, Mr Gates said: "We are simply reaffirming that statement of the importance of the Gulf region to the United States and our determination to be an ongoing strong...

President George W Bush has ordered US forces to launch a military offensive against Iranian officials and Revolutionary Guards officers behind a support and funding network for anti-American fighters in Iraq. US troops have been authorised to use force to tackle Teheran's agents, who are believed to support both Shia and Sunni fighters Mr Bush signed the clandestine directive after he was given new intelligence on the scale of Iranian operations to foment violence in Iraq. US troops were operating under the new instructions when they raided an Iranian "liaison office" in northern Iraq last week, detaining five men, in...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic and Republican senators voiced strong concern on Thursday that the Iraq war could spread to neighboring Iran and Syria if the U.S. military were to chase militants across the border. President Bush, who accuses Iran and Syria of fomenting the violence in Iraq, on Wednesday proposed sending 21,500 more U.S. troops to try to restore security nearly four years after the U.S.-led invasion. Bush sparked worries that the conflict may widen by his comment that "we'll interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing...

ARBIL, Iraq, Jan 11 (Reuters) - U.S. forces raided an Iranian government representative's office in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil early on Thursday and made a number of arrests, Iraq's state television and a Kurdish station reported. There was no immediate comment on the reports of a U.S. raid in Arbil from the American military.

ENVIRONMENTAL contamination could affect the region if Israel goes ahead with reported plans to attack Iran's uranium enrichment facilities or if there is an earthquake, a Bahraini expert warned yesterday. However, Bahrain University physics professor Dr Waheeb Alnaser said things could be much worse if Israel decides to attack the power plant in Bushehr. He said alleged plans by Israel to attack facilities in Natanz, Arak and near Isfahan would result in limited damage to the environment. This is because neither the weapons that would be used nor the uranium located there is highly active. But Dr Alnaser fears that...

Two news reports in two of the world’s most highly respected newspapers caught our eye this morning. Under the headline, “Democrats: Nuclear Iran Unacceptable,” The Jerusalem Post’s Hilary Leila Krieger reported upon her interview with U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland). Krieger joyfully reports on Rep. Hoyer “rejecting assertions that the Democrats would be weaker than the Republicans on Iran.” Hoyer said the Democrats’ position, like that of the Republicans in Congress and the president’s administration, was that preventing a nuclear-armed Iran had to be done firstly through “discussions, negotiations, sanctions.” At the same time, Hoyer said...

President Bush has decided to delay publicly outlining his new Iraq strategy until next month. In many ways, the new plan will represent a more difficult decision than the initial call to go to war in Iraq. Even Mr. Bush has been forced to admit that post-Saddam Hussein Iraq has not turned out as expected. Mr. Bush is also buying time for the Iraqi factions -- Sunnis, Shi'ites and Kurds -- to figure out whether they can move closer to agreeing on national reconciliation efforts and trying to create a little space for newly minted Defense Secretary Robert Gates to...

One potential military option that would be available to the United States includes the use of air strikes on Iranian weapons of mass destruction and missile facilities. In all, there are perhaps two dozen suspected nuclear facilities in Iran. The 1000-megawatt nuclear plant Bushehr would likely be the target of such strikes. According to the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, the spent fuel from this facility would be capable of producing 50 to 75 bombs. Also, the suspected nuclear facilities at Natanz and Arak will likely be targets of an air attack. American air strikes on Iran would vastly exceed the...

U.N. Security Council imposes sanctions on Iran 8 minutes ago The U.N. Security Council on Saturday unanimously imposed sanctions on Iran's trade in sensitive nuclear materials and ballistic missiles, in a move aimed at getting Tehran to halt uranium enrichment work.