Follow up to the Wahabbis+Zion story ..GERTZ-GULF STATES INTELLIGENCE REPORTS: Iran at 'delicate stage', will turn aggressive

Strategists for the Persian Gulf states have projected that Iran would become more aggressive during 2010.

Gulf Cooperation Council sources said the six Gulf Arab states shared the assessment that Iran would seek to expand its influence throughout the region.

They said the mullah regime in Teheran would also come under increasing pressure from its domestic opposition to enact democratic reforms.

A U.S. soldier walks past the launcher of a Patriot missile PAC-3 system. A senior Iranian military official told the Gulf states not to squander money on U.S. missiles, boasting that Iran can render them useless, the state news agency IRNA reported. AFP/Jung Yeon-Je

"Iran has reached a delicate stage," Sami Al Faraj, chairman of Kuwait Center for Strategic Studies, said.

Over the last few months, GCC states have been conducting simulations on the consequences of an Iranian missile strike as well as the use of nuclear weapons. The simulations have played a major element in military and security exercises with such Western powers as Britain, France and the United States.

"It is our strong desire that the Middle East should remain free from weapons of mass destruction," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal said.

The sources said GCC states have been highly skeptical of the U.S. reconciliation effort toward Iran. They said Gulf Arab leaders resented being kept out of Western discussions to end the crisis over Iran's uranium enrichment program.

"Somebody's trying to do business while we're not there, while we're not present in that room," Bahraini Foreign Minister Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa said. "This is the fundamental mistake of how these talks were conducted. I think that is the main reason why the talks failed."

Khalid acknowledged that Bahrain was upgrading its defenses, including those against missiles. He said Bahrain, which hosts the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, would receive the PAC-3 missile defense system from the United States over the next year. Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were also scheduled to receive the PAC-3.

"It's being developed; it's being upgraded; new technology is coming in," Khalid told a news conference in Washington on Feb. 3. "This is a measure to protect. It's not a measure to attack."

GCC leaders have agreed that Iran was using proxies to destabilize most of their states. The sources said the GCC assessment determined that Teheran had been funding and training Shi'ite rebels in Yemen to attack Saudi Arabia since November 2009.

"The Gulf countries should seize every opportunity to establish international alliances and should appreciate that power is more important than common currencies or economic alliances," Bader Al Shabib, director of Kuwait's Salafi Scientific Movement, said. "There is no meaning for money if there is no security."

For his part, Al Faraj said Teheran was heading for a series of crises that would threaten the GCC. He said Iran would also increase its influence in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories as the regime faces increasing domestic unrest.

"The situation in Iran is heading for the worst," Al Faraj said.

Say, are those F-15's with six pointed blue stars I see over the Nefud?

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