The Guardian: Iranian attack is increasingly likely

In an article published on the website of the newspaper The Guardian, Julian Borger warns about a possible Iranian attack against the U.S. and its allies.
The information, according to Borger, a diplomatic editor, was confirmed by James Clapper, the head of U.S. intelligence.

Borger believes that the warnings from the director of national intelligence, in his written testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee to assess threats against the United States, reflect the increasing tensions around the world over the Iranian nuclear program. The situation described in the article released on Wednesday January 31 would be the result of the embargo announced by the United States and the European Union on the Iranian trade oil.

According to the article, Israel leaked details of its preparation for a possible conflict, while both the West and Iran raised their military readiness in the Persian Gulf.

According to the British newspaper, the U.S. plans to send a third aircraft carrier to the region in March. Iran, in turn, threatens to block the entrance to the Gulf at the Strait of Hormuz and sets out to naval maneuvers shortly.

"Some Iranian officials - probably including the supreme leader Ali Khamenei - have changed their calculus and are now more willing to conduct an attack in the United States in response to real or perceived US actions that threaten the regime," Clapper explained, according to the article posted on http://www.guardian.co.uk.

Moreover, as noted by Borger, Western officials have reported an increase in worldwide operations by alleged members of the Quds Force, the external operations arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). As mentioned by the officials, this would point to "positioning units capable of carrying out reprisal attacks against western and Israeli targets if Iran was itself attacked."

According to one of these officials, this possibility is of great concern for the United States government and others.

The article adds that recently the governments of Thailand and Azerbaijan made a series of arrests of suspects allegedly linked to Iranian intelligence who were accused of plotting to assassinate Israeli diplomatic officials and a rabbi.

Also, Borger highlighted that after the Iranian threat last month to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to oil sanctions, the United States deployed two aircraft carriers in the region. Meanwhile, a third aircraft carrier is scheduled to head to the Gulf in March. The three carriers are the USS Abraham Lincoln, the USS Carl Vinson and the USS John Stennis.

Borger reported that tensions have aggravated lately after leaked details of the Israeli military preparations and cabinet deliberations discussions on whether to attack Iran in the coming months, "in an effort to set back its nuclear program by a few years."

Taken from The Guardian

See the full article at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/31/iranian-attack-america-allies-intelligence