Robert Gates, the incoming Secretary of Defense has candidly acknowledged that Iran is "surrounded" by nukes and is the object of a US sponsored nuclear threat

“They [the Iranians] are surrounded by powers with nuclear weapons—Pakistan to their east, the Russians to the north, the Israelis to the west and us [the United States] in the Persian Gulf,” (Senate Committee confirmation hearing).



By acknowledging the role of Israeli nukes in the Middle East war theater, the new Secretary of Defense has revealed a new phase of the “game plan” against Iran.

Secretary Gates seems to have omitted that India is also a nuclear power in close proximity to Iran and that Britain has nuclear capabilities deployed in the Persian Gulf. Also omitted from Secretary Gates' statement is the fact that U.S. made tactical nuclear weapons are deployed in Turkey and four other "non-nuclear" EU member states including Holland, Belgium, Italy and Germany.



The media has asserted that "the Realists in Washington D.C." are now taking control of U.S. foreign policy and U.S. military planning in the Middle East.

What is significant about Secretary Gates’ military rhetoric is that it marks the ushering in of a new strategy in which Israel is acknowledged as a full fledged nuclear partner in the U.S. sponsored nuclear threat directed against Iran.



Global Research,

December 9, 2006