Trish said: "Think we chipped those eleven Iranian returnees?"

Robert "Bud" McFarlane's favorite recipe.

UPDATE and COMMENT:

Based on comments by Condi Rice, the reported discussions between Chancellor Merkel of Germany with President Bush and a joint statement this afternoon from the German and French leaders calling for Russia and China to help increase pressure on Iran over its disputed nuclear program, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy saying that Teheran must get "no nuclear weapon," it is clear a deal is in the works.

Sarkozy recently has led European calls for tougher sanctions against Iran over its defiance of UN Security Council demands to halt uranium enrichment, which could be used both to generate nuclear power and create the fissile core of warheads. Sarkozy said as much in the address to Congress and in reported discussions during his Washington visit.

France has suggested new European Union economic sanctions against Iran. Chancellor Angela Merkel has made clear that Germany wants to concentrate on negotiating sanctions at the UN.

Merkel said after the two countries' Cabinets held a twice-yearly meeting that there was "a very great level of agreement" on Iran. 

The US military is very reluctant to get involved with a difficult war with Iran while it is engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan. With rising oil prices, a falling dollar, a heating up of the US election process, it is evident that every effort short of war will be used to make a deal.

The continued belligerence of Vladimir Putin has probably added to the developing European view that a stronger relationship with the United States, based on diplomacy and negotiation, without taking a military option off the table, has the best chance at success.

US strike on Iran ‘not being prepared’

By Demetri Sevastopulo, Daniel Dombey and Andrew Ward in Washington
Published: November 12 2007 00:01 | Last updated: November 12 2007 00:01
Financial Times

The Pentagon is not preparing a pre-emptive attack on Iran in spite of an increase in bellicose rhetoric from Washington, according to senior officers.

Admiral William Fallon, head of Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, told the Financial Times that while dealing with Iran was a “challenge”, a strike was not “in the offing”.


“None of this is helped by the continuing stories that just keep going around and around and around that any day now there will be another war which is just not where we want to go,” he said.

“Getting Iranian behaviour to change and finding ways to get them to come to their senses and do that is the real objective. Attacking them as a means to get to that spot strikes me as being not the first choice in my book.”

Adm Fallon did not rule out the possibility of a strike at some point. But his comments served as a shot across the bows of hawks who are arguing for imminent action. They also echoed the views of the senior brass that military action is currently unnecessary, and should only be considered as an absolute last resort.

In recent months, President George W. Bush and his top officials have made a string of tough statements that have fuelled speculation that the US was preparing to strike Iran over its nuclear programme. Adm Fallon declined to comment specifically on whether the US rhetoric was feeding the speculation, but said that “generally, the bellicose comments are not particularly helpful”.

“That said we have to make sure that there is no mistake here on the part of the Iranians about our resolve in tending to business in the region,” said Adm Fallon. “There has got to be some combination of strength and willingness to engage. How to come up with the right combination of that is the real trick.”

Several senior active and retired miltary officers told the FT that the Pentagon believes striking Iran at this point would be a strategic mistake, as even a limited air strike could spark a broader conflict.

“The US might think in terms of a limited strike but military officers like to point out that the enemy has a vote,” said Jo-Anne Hart, an Iran expert at Brown University who consults for the military. Retired General Anthony Zinni, a former Centcom commander, said the US military was “stretched too thin” to fight a protracted war with Iran.

Retired Gen John Abizaid, who preceeded Adm Fallon, recently said the US should avoid a war with Iran, which would be “devastating for everybody”. He added that the US should do everything to prevent Iran getting a nuclear weapon, but said Washington could live with that outcome if it happened.

In another sign that the Pentagon is trying to reduce tensions with Iran, the US military this week released nine Iranians it had been holding in Iraq. The move came after Robert Gates, defence secretary, confirmed that Tehran had told the Iraqi government it would be willing to stop sending weapons to militias in Iraq.

Speaking to the FT before the release, Adm Fallon said there had “certainly been a downturn” in roadside bomb attacks on US forces, but that the “jury is still out” on whether Iran had reduced its support for militias in Iraq.

“We need to see them do something along the lines of ‘we are serious about having a dialogue’ and then maybe we can do something,” he added.