In Gulf -- Vice President Cheney Warns Iran

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D. Spencer Hines - 12 May 2007 07:32 GMT

Well-Stated -- Firm -- Yet Measured & Precise.

DSH

Lux et Veritas et Libertas
--------------------------------------------------------

In Gulf, Cheney warns Iran of U.S. resolve

By David E. Sanger

Friday, May 11, 2007
International Herald Tribune

BRUSSELS: Vice President Dick Cheney used the deck of an American aircraft
carrier just 240 kilometers off Iran's coast as the backdrop Friday to warn
the country that the United States was prepared to use its naval power to
keep Tehran from disrupting oil routes or "gaining nuclear weapons and
dominating this region."

BINGO! -- DSH

Little of what Cheney said in the cavernous hangar bay of the aircraft
carrier John C. Stennis, one of two carriers whose strike groups are now in
the Gulf, was new.

Each individual line had, in some form, been said before, at various points
in the four-year-long nuclear standoff with Iran, and during the
increasingly tense arguments over whether Iran is aiding the insurgents in
Iraq.

But Cheney stitched all of those warnings together, and the symbolism of
sending the administration's most famous hawk to deliver the speech so close
to Iran's coast was unmistakable.

Indeed. -- DSH

It also came just a week after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice talked
briefly and inconclusively with Iran's foreign minister, a step toward
re-engagement with Iran that some in the administration have opposed.

Cheney's sharp warnings appeared to be part of a two-track administration
campaign to push back at Iran, while leaving the door open to negotiations.

It was almost exactly a year ago that the United States offered to negotiate
with Iran as long as it first agreed to halt enriching uranium, a decision
in which Cheney, participants said, was not a major player. Similarly, the
speech Friday was not circulated broadly in the government before it was
delivered, a senior American diplomat said.

"He kind of runs by his own rules," the official said.

When President George W. Bush ordered the two carriers into the Gulf late
last year, senior administration officials said it was part of an effort to
gain some negotiating leverage over the Iranians.

At about the same time, American military personnel began capturing some
Iranians in Iraq, and some of them are still held there.

American officials have also been pressing European banks and companies to
avoid doing business with Tehran, in an effort to make it more difficult for
the country to recycle its oil profits.

Oil seemed to be on Cheney's mind Friday, when he told an audience of 3,500
to 4,000 American service members on the Stennis that Iran would not be
permitted to choke off oil shipments through the waters of the region.

"With two carrier strike groups in the Gulf, we're sending clear messages to
friends and adversaries alike," he said. "We'll keep the sea lanes open.
We'll stand with our friends in opposing extremism and strategic threats.
We'll disrupt attacks on our own forces. We'll continue bringing relief to
those who suffer, and delivering justice to the enemies of freedom. And
we'll stand with others to prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons and
dominating this region."

Some experts on Iran have questioned whether the threats that administration
officials occasionally deliver to Iran aid or undercut the diplomacy with
the country.

"The problem with the two-track policy is that the first track - coercion,
sanctions, naval deployments - can undercut the results on the second
track," said Ray Takeyh, an Iran scholar at the Council of Foreign Relations
and the author of "Hidden Iran: Paradox and Power in the Islamic Republic."

Horsefeathers! The Steel Fist In The Velvet Glove. Excellent Foreign
Policy When Dealing With Ahmahdinejad. -- DSH

"There are some in Tehran who will look at Cheney on that carrier and say
that everything Rice is offering is not real. What's real, to their mind,
are the coercive policies Cheney is describing. This is a case where we are
trying to get through negotiations what, so far, we couldn't get through
coercion."

The symbols of coercion were part of the backdrop on the Stennis: Cheney
spoke in front of five F-18 Super Hornet warplanes.

Entirely Appropriate. -- DSH

Cheney also repeated his arguments about the danger of early withdrawal from
Iraq.

The United States remains at odds with Iran over its uranium-enrichment
program, which Iran says is for peaceful nuclear energy, but which America
and its Western allies say is intended instead to produce atomic weapons.

Administration officials have also said that weapons are being smuggled into
Iraq from Iran and that insurgents may be getting training in bomb-making
and bomb-placing techniques in Iran. The Iranian government denies
sponsoring or encouraging terrorism.

Alissa J. Rubin contributed reporting from Baghdad, and Graham Bowley
contributed from New York.

History Forum / General / British History / May 2007

In Gulf -- Vice President Cheney Warns Iran