Word: iran
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...Iran's air force is not what has the region nervous. Much of last weekend's annual Manama Dialogue in Bahrain - a conference of top military and government officials from across the region, where Petraeus spoke with TIME and which was also attended by an Iranian delegation - was devoted to angry clashes over Tehran's nuclear program and allegations that it is waging proxy warfare in Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen. (See "Petraeus Zinger Wounds Air Force Egos...
Petraeus, in language more blunt than that typically used by Obama Administration officials, lashed out that Iran, "which had become a theocracy, has become a thugocracy because of the hijacked elections and people's response to them." He said Arab hostility toward Iran had helped win support for U.S. strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Iraq, he said, there were almost daily attacks using explosive devices manufactured in Iran, while Tehran was using its leverage to strengthen Iranian influence over Iraq's government. Iran sells about 350 million watts of electricity a day to Iraq. "Iraqis see Iran expanding...
...most immediate flash point in tensions between Iran and its Arab neighbors is Yemen, one of the regions poorest and most unstable countries, where Shi'ite Houthi rebels in the north launched attacks in neighboring Saudi Arabia last month, sparking an air strike by Saudi jets on Houthi territory. U.S. officials say they have no proof that Iran is involved in the Yemen conflict, but deeply suspicious gulf states, including Yemen, are sure Tehran is stoking a potentially explosive war. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh told TIME last month that the rebels "want to follow the system of Iran...
While senior Iranian officials and uniformed U.S. military officers munched on muffins within touching distance of one another during informal breaks in the Manama discussions, such affability is likely to be in short supply as regional tensions escalate over Iran's growing influence in the Arab world and over the stalemate in diplomatic efforts to resolve the nuclear standoff. That's likely to see nervous Arab regimes drawing closer to the U.S. military - and, presumably, to continue shopping at Lockheed Martin and Raytheon...
...pictures of the turbulent aftermath of Iran's presidential election...