The Scum at the Top
Commentary on the Rats in Washington
Iran Could Cut West's Oil Supplies in Event
of War, Warns American Chief in Gulf
By Alec Russell in Washington
Telegraph Group Limited
© September 21, 2006
Iran could trigger a global terrorist campaign
and choke the West's oil supplies in the event
of war with America, the top US commander in
the region has warned.
In a rare public discussion of how a war
with Iran might unfold, Gen John Abizaid,
the chief of the US Central Command, gave a
sobering assessment of Iran's military potential.
He warned that in a war Iran would rely on
unconventional means to challenge America's
superiority.
"Number one, they have naval capacity to
temporarily block the Straits of Hormuz
[the entrance into the Gulf] and interfere
with global commerce if they should choose
to do so," he said.
"Number two, they've got a substantial missile
force that can do a lot of damage to our
friends and partners in the region.
"Number three, they've got a pretty robust
terrorist surrogate arm that could in the event
of hostilities cause problems not only in the
Middle East but globally.
And number four, they have a very substantial
land army that, while it's not offensively
worrying, is certainly capable of conducting
asymmetric warfare."
Gen Abizaid's comments came as US and British
officials chose to ignore a sulphurous attack
by Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a
speech to the UN's General Assembly on Tuesday.
Instead they are reluctantly backing an EU
initiative to slow the push for sanctions to
allow time to explore a possible diplomatic deal
over Iran's uranium enrichment programme.
Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, said
the speech was "predictable".
"We're still prepared to take action [sanctions]
if Iran refuses to co-operate. But if there was
any compliance, we could step back."
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