WASHINGTON, Dec 19: The US Defence Department is considering a build-up of navy forces in the Gulf as a show of force against Iran, a senior official said on Tuesday.
The official said one proposal is to send a second aircraft carrier to the region amid increasing tensions with Iran, blamed for encouraging sectarian violence in Iraq as well as accused of pursuing a nuclear weapons program.
The United States and its European allies are seeking sanctions against Iran because of its refusal to stop uranium enrichment, a technology that can be used to produce nuclear fuel for civilian purposes or fuel for a nuclear bomb. Despite the lingering inability of the negotiating principals to agree terms of a resolution, the State Department remained upbeat.
“They are down to a couple of issues,” spokesman Sean McCormack said, refusing to provide details. “This should be easy; there should be a 15-0 vote,” he said.
In Tehran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said UN sanctions would not stop Iran from pursuing its uranium enrichment program, which he has said is for peaceful development of energy.
Bush administration officials have repeatedly declined to rule out the use of force against Iran, though they have also said their first choice is to rely on diplomacy.
The idea of building up US navy forces has been discussed over some time and it is unclear when a decision will be made, the defence official said.
The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower is already in the region. It left the United States in late September with four other ships and submarines carrying 6,500 sailors.
The flotilla headed to the Mediterranean Sea and eventually went to relieve the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise strike group, which was in the region supporting operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Also, the US in late October led a naval training exercise aimed at blocking smuggling of nuclear weapons in the Gulf.
The six-nation manoeuvres off the coast of Iran were the first of their kind since North Korea's Oct 9 nuclear test and UN sanctions that called on the international community to conduct searches at sea to ensure the reclusive communist nation is not secretly expanding its nuclear programme.—AP
