UPI reports not only that Israel will bomb Iran later this year, but also that “many now assume” that Iran will then retaliate against Persian Gulf states such as Dubai and Saudi Arabia. Gulf States Fear Iranian Attack The UPI report states that Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, and Oman have deployed Patriot missile batteries along the Persian Gulf to deflect incoming Iranian missiles. The members of the Gulf Cooperation Council are “getting ready for what many now assume will be retaliation from Iran following Israeli bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities later this year,” UPI reports. It has been reported in the past that Iran has trained secret networks of agents in the Gulf states to attack Western interests and incite civil unrest in the event that the U.S. or Israel attacks it. Sleeper cells of teachers, doctors and nurses trained by Iran are ready to be activated when necessary, it is claimed. “Such a scenario,” the Telegraph recently reported, “would bring chaos to the Gulf, one of the few areas of the Middle East that remains prosperous and has largely pro-Western governments.” Other reports say that Iran would launch a “missile blitz” against the Gulf states if attacked by Israel or the U.S. Qatar, Bahrain and Oman all host important American military bases as well as British forces. US: Gates Says Israeli Attack Won’t Work At the same time, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates expressed concern about an Israeli attack and tried to downplay its effectiveness. Gates told a group of Marine Corps students this week that an Israeli attack against Iran’s nuclear program would probably delay Tehran's nuclear program by only one to three years. He added that such an attack would "cement [Iran’s] determination to have a nuclear program, and also build into the whole country an undying hatred of whoever hits them.” Iran has registered a protest against perceived Israeli threats to attack it. Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Mohammad Khazaee sent a letter on Tuesday to the UN Security Council denouncing Israel’s "unlawful and insolent" threats. He said the threats violated international law and the U.N. Charter, and urged the UN to respond. Obama vs. Yesha Israel largest newspaper, Yediot Acharonot, reported on Thursday that the Obama Administration is hinting that if Israel gives up Judea and Samaria (Yesha), the U.S. would help in dismantling the Iranian nuclear threat. The paper reports that Administration officials are speaking of a “Bushehr in exchange for Yitzhar” plan, implying that if Israel gives up Yitzhar and the other approximately 170 Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria, the U.S. will help in neutralizing Iran’s Bushehr and other nuclear plants. Obama vs. Israel The paper further reports that Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s hard-hitting Jewish Chief of Staff, recently told a Jewish leader in Washington, “In the next four years, there will be a final status agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, based on ‘two states for two peoples,’ and we couldn’t care less who the Prime Minister is.”
