Did You Know...

{Post by See-Dubya}

Item 1: Iran denies that one of their speedboats buzzed the U.S.S. Typhoon in the Persian Gulf on Friday.

A U.S. Navy official earlier reported the USS Typhoon had tried unsuccessfully to establish radio contact with the Iranian boat after it came within an estimated 200 yards of the Typhoon on Thursday, outside Iranian territorial waters.

Given the memory of the U.S.S. Cole suicide speedboat attack, that could have escalated very quickly. The Navy says the Typhoon fired a flare at the boat; they’re lucky it wasn’t something a bit more robust.

Item 2: The administration now names Iran instead of Al-Qaeda the top threat inside Iraq:

Evidence of an increase in Iranian weapons, training and direction for the Shiite militias that battled U.S. and Iraqi security forces in those two cities has fixed new U.S. attention on what Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates yesterday called Tehran’s “malign” influence, the officials said.

The intensified focus on Iran coincides with diminished emphasis on al-Qaeda in Iraq as the leading justification for an ongoing U.S. military presence in Iraq.

Item 3: I’ve linked this before but it’s an important part of the picture–

Saudi Arabia most likely would develop nuclear weapons if Iran acquires them, according to a report to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

High-level American diplomats in Riyadh with excellent access to Saudi decision-makers said an Iranian nuclear weapon frightens the Saudis “to their core” and would compel the Saudis to seek nuclear weapons, the report said. …

Turkey also would come under pressure to follow suit if Iran builds nuclear weapons in the next decade, said the report prepared by a committee staff member after interviewing hundreds of individuals in Washington and the Middle East last July through December.

Even if, hypothetically, Iran built a bomb and never used it, the corresponding proliferation of nuclear weaponry around the world ought to keep everyone’s attention on Iran’s politics. Will they be as reckless with their nuclear weapons as they are with their speedboats?