By Larry Jones
The United States, its western allies, and its puppet state Israel have continually complained about threats from Iran. Israel has called for military actions against Iran, which would violate the United Nations Charter. In May the U.S. Navy sent two aircraft carriers and landing ships with 17,000 U.S. Marines and sailors to carry out threatening exercises in the Persian Gulf.
From July 12 to 16 Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner discussed the possibility of increased sanctions against Iran with officials in Europe and the Middle East. Current sanctions are already crippling Iran’s people.
This week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke to how the US could seek to “contain” Iran by building what she called a “defense umbrella” around Iran. In a speech in Thailand, Clinton said: “"We will still hold the door open [for negotiations], but we also have made it clear that we will take actions. As I have said time and time again – crippling action – (including) working to upgrade the defenses of our partners in the region," Clinton told Thai television.
Stars display US military bases encircling Iran
"We want Iran to calculate what I think is a fair assessment: that if the United States extends a defense umbrella over the region, if we do even more to develop the military capacity of those [allies] in the Gulf, it is unlikely that Iran will be any stronger or safer because they won’t be able to intimidate and dominate as they apparently believe they can once they have a nuclear weapon."
Sir Richard Dalton, a former British ambassador to Tehran, said: "She’s implying that, if Iran became a nuclear weapon state, then the US would develop their existing defense commitments and that the US would contemplate nuclear deterrence to protect Persian Gulf states."
The map above, courtesy of Ryan Kowalchik, shows the immense threat to Iran by the U.S. military bases which surround it.