posted August 23, 2006 11:49 PM              

Staff and agencies
Wednesday August 23, 2006

Guardian Unlimited

The US-led "war on terror" has bolstered Iran's power and influence in the Middle East, especially over its neighbour and former enemy Iraq, a thinktank said today.
A report published by Chatham House said the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had removed Iran's main rival regimes in the region.

Israel's conflict with the Palestinians and its invasion of Lebanon had also put Iran "in a position of considerable strength" in the Middle East, said the thinktank.

Unless stability could be restored to the region, Iran's power will continue to grow, according to the report published by Chatham House

The study said Iran had been swift to fill the political vacuum created by the removal of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein in Iraq. The Islamic republic now has a level of influence in the region that could not be ignored.

In particular, Iran has now superseded the US as the most influential power in Iraq, regarding its former adversary as its "own backyard". It is also a "prominent presence" in its other war-torn neighbour, Afghanistan, according to Chatham House's analysts.

The report said: "There is little doubt that Iran has been the chief beneficiary of the war on terror in the Middle East.

"The United States, with coalition support, has eliminated two of Iran's regional rival governments - the Taliban in Afghanistan in November 2001 and Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq in April 2003 - but has failed to replace either with coherent and stable political structures."

The thinktank said the west needed to understand better Iran's links with its neighbours to see why the country felt able "to resist Western pressure".

"The US-driven agenda for confronting Iran is severely compromised by the confident ease with which Iran sits in its region," said the report.

Western countries, led by the US, are locked in a bitter dispute with Iran over its nuclear programme.

Iran, the world's fourth largest oil exporter, says it will not give up what it says is its right to peaceful nuclear technology. The west suspects Tehran is developing nuclear weapons.

The thinktank said: "While the US and Europeans slowly grind the nuclear issue through the mills of the International Atomic Energy Agency and the United Nations security council, Iran continues to prevaricate, feeling confident of victory as conditions turn ever more in its favour."

The report added the country was "simply too important - for political, economic, cultural, religions and military reasons - to be treated lightly".

One of the report's authors, Dr Ali Ansari, reader in modern history at the University of St Andrews, told Radio 4: "The United States needs to take a step back and reassess its entire policy towards Iran and work out, first of all, what does it want and how is it going to achieve it, because at the moment everything is rather like putting a sticking plaster on a fairly raw wound, and it is not really actually doing much at all."

posted August 24, 2006 03:07 AM              

If Iran did use them on Israel (who by the way have over 200 nuclear weapons) they'd be pretty stupid.

That would be like asking the US to drop nuclear bombs over Iran...because that's most likely what would happen.

The consequences for one is definitely a deterrent.

Also if they dropped nuclear bombs they would be killing innocent civilians, which would be against their Shariah law. They would also be killing innocent Palestinians too who live in the area. Plus much of Israel is holy to them and they wouldnt want to destroy Al-Aqsa for one.

Look at Iran's history...when was the last time Iran attacked another country?

Iran says they want Nuclear Power. But everyone is running on suspicions that they want it to nuke out Israel.

posted August 24, 2006 01:29 PM            

She's from a fantasy land where Hezbollah, Hamas, al-Qaeda, Islamic Jihad, PLO, et.al, organizations which deliberately target civilian populations ARE NOT terrorists...even when they deliberately target civilians in their own countries and/or members of their own religious faith.

She's from a fantasy land where terrorist organizations can cross an international border, engage in acts of war, commit additional acts of war by firing off unguided missiles from private residences and civilian structures in attempts to kill, injure and maim civilians in another country, then hide like the cowards they are amongst their own civilian populations all the while using those civilians and civilian structures to further their acts of war....and they're NOT terrorists but any retaliation against those acts of war...ARE the actions of terrorists.

posted August 24, 2006 05:35 PM              

and what land do you guys live in?