U.S. sending missiles to Arab states Concern over potential Israel-Iran conflict cited

(Compiler's note: A must read article.)

The following report is excerpted from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the online newsletter published by the founder of WND.

Patriot missile launcher

The United States quietly is providing advanced Patriot missile systems and other defensive technologies to Arab countries in the Persian Gulf in anticipation of any retaliatory response from Iran should Israel launch a military strike against its nuclear facilities.

The U.S. is in the process now of either providing or upgrading existing Patriot missile defense systems in the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. For that matter, it also is assisting Israel in upgrading its existing Patriot batteries and providing technology to assist in the Arrow Two, an indigenous Israeli anti-missile system. The assistance continues despite the Obama administration's opposition to any such Israeli attack on Iran.

Israel has let it be known that it intends to attack Iran's nuclear facilities if the U.S. doesn't, or if ongoing negotiations targeting Iran's nuclear program fail. Israel had also made it clear that such negotiations should "quickly" achieve results to avoid Israeli action.

In a recent interview with Atlantic Monthly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel "will attack" Iran should the U.S. fail to quickly halt Tehran's nuclear program.

"The Obama presidency has two great missions: fixing the economy, and preventing Iran from gaining nuclear weapons," Netanyahu declared.

If the U.S. were to fail to halt Iran's nuclear initiative quickly, he added, Israel would be "forced" to attack that country's nuclear facilities.

Other Israeli experts say that Netanyahu has made up his mind to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities, despite U.S. intelligence reports that say Israel may have upwards of 200 nuclear devices of its own, with a delivery capability to match.

It also is their assessment that diplomacy and sanctions will do nothing to halt the Iranian program, and the "only way to stop Iran's nuclear program will be by force, which only Israel is motivated to apply," one analyst said.

Why would there be concern among Arab countries of an Iranian counter-attack to include them should Israel attack Iran? There are a number of reasons.

Members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, or GCC, are concerned over recent Iranian statements that one of its members, Bahrain, is considered an Iranian province. In addition to Bahrain, GCC members are Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Bahrain also is home to the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and the U.S. Fifth Fleet.

Although critical of Israel during the recent Israeli bombings of Hamas in the Palestinian controlled Gaza Strip earlier this year, the Sunni GCC members not only are concerned about Shiite Iran's support for Sunni Hamas but are critical of Iran's nuclear development program. They are wary that it is a cover for the development of nuclear weapons.

The development has prompted Saudi Arabia's Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz recently to suggest that the Saudi Kingdom will acquire nuclear weapons to counter any similar Iranian capability. A recent report from the Dubai, UAE based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis said that with Nayef as a crown prince or possible king of Saudi Arabia to succeed his half brother King Abdullah, a "Saudi nuclear weapon will not be far off."