Rasmussen Rejects Iran’s Allegations of NATO Instigating ‘World War’

Those with Silly Ideas to Use Their Offensive Missiles Are Concerned about Patriots- Rasmussen

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen today denounced charges by the chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces that NATO was risking a world war with plans to put Patriot anti-missile systems near Turkey's border with Syria.

“I completely denounce these (Iranian) allegations. We have made clear right from the outset that the deployment of Patriots is a purely defensive measure,” Mr. Rasmussen told a news conference in Brussels. “We are there to defend and protect our ally Turkey. We have no offensive intentions whatsoever.” (Reuters, 17 December)

Rasmussen added he believed the only people who might be concerned about NATO's deployment of Patriot missiles were “actors that might have silly ideas to use their missile capabilities for offensive purposes.”

“But I hope that the fact that we have deployed Patriot missiles in Turkey can act as an effective deterrent so that no one would even think about attacking Turkey,” Rasmussen said.

Maj. Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi, Iran's army chief of staff, said on Saturday that deployment of Patriots on Turkish soil was “meant to cause a world war.”

The United States, Germany and the Netherlands are sending a total of six Patriot batteries to Turkey.

File photo: NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen (Atlantic Council)

NATO to Deploy Patriot Missiles in Turkey

NATO foreign ministers today approved deployment of Patriot surface-to-missiles in Turkey to protect the country against any Syrian missile attack, possibly armed with chemical weapons.

“We stand with Turkey in the spirit of strong solidarity and we stand ready to take the necessary steps for the defense of Turkey,” said NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. “The NATO ministers unanimously expressed grave concern about reports that the Syrian regime may be considering the use of chemical weapons,” Rasmussen added. 

File photo: A Patriot defense missile in Germany. (CARSTEN REHDER/EPA/WashPost)

Iran's defense minister invited to Afghanistan

From IRNA:

Minister of Defense and Logistics of Armed Forces will pay a visit to Afghanistan upon an invitation of his Afghan counterpart.

Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi, upon an official invitation of Field Marshal Abdulrahim Vardak, Afghanistan Defense Minister, will pay a visit to Kabul heading a high ranking defense delegation next week.

General Vahidi is to meet with Afghanistan high ranking political and defense officials and discuss bilateral, regional and international issues.

It will be the first ever visit of an Iranian defense minister to Afghanistan after the victory of Islamic revolution in Iran.

Also it would be the first ever visit of an Iranian defense minister to Afghanistan since 92 years ago.

Quite amazing if this is actually pulled off. IRGC Brigadier General Vahidi has been on an Interpol "red notice" since November 2007 over a highly curious investigation into a bombing attack that took place in Argentina in 1994. That this trip could possibly take place to Afghanistan while under a NATO military occupation would prove nothing short of remarkable.

NATO: Members may use Iran for Afghan supplies

From Associated Press:

NATO's top military commander said Monday he would not oppose any arrangements that individual member nations may strike with Iran to supply their forces in Afghanistan.

Gen. John Craddock's comments came just days after NATO's secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, urged the U.S. and other members of the Western military alliance to engage with the Shiite nation in a regional approach to combat Taliban militants in Afghanistan.

"Those would be national decisions, nations should act in a manner that is consistent with their national interest and with their ability to resupply their forces. I think it is purely up to them," Craddock, who is NATO's supreme allied commander, told The Associated Press.

Securing alternative routes to landlocked Afghanistan has taken on added urgency this year as the United States prepares to double its troop numbers there to 60,000 to battle a resurgent Taliban eight years after the U.S.-led invasion.

It also comes at a time when the main supply corridor through neighboring Pakistan is becoming volatile following insurgent attacks on convoys that supply the foreign troops in Afghanistan.

"NATO is looking at flexible, alternate routing. I think that is healthy," Craddock said, when asked about the possibility of using Iranian territory for supply.

"Options are a good thing, choices are a good thing, flexibility in military operations is essential," he said. "What nations will do is up to them," he said, without elaborating.

Some experts suggest that nations with good relations with Iran such as France, Germany and Italy may try to set up an alternate supply route to western Afghanistan via Char Bahar, a port in southeastern Iran.

Craddock's comments came after U.S. Central Command chief Gen. David Petraeus said last month that America had struck deals with Russia and several Central Asian states close to or bordering Afghanistan to allow supplies to pass through their territory.

U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan get up to 75 percent of "non-lethal" supplies such as food, fuel and building materials from shipments that cross Pakistan.

Some political and military leaders have hinted at the need for closer cooperation with the government in Iran over the war in Afghanistan, where some 70,000 NATO and U.S. troops are currently trying to beat back the resurgent Taliban.

The United States has viewed with suspicion Iran's role in Afghanistan, although the Shiite nation has a long history of opposing Taliban rule.

U.S. officials have previously alleged that Iranian-made weapons and explosive devices were finding their way in the hands of insurgents in Afghanistan. But such criticism has been muted recently as President Barack Obama's administration tries to set a new tone in relations with Iran.

NATO General Accuses Iran for Sending Bombs to Afghanistan

US Army Gen. Dan McNeill, NATO commander in Afghanistan, said today the Iranian military was involved in a shipment of sophisticated explosive devices that NATO troops intercepted in western Afghanistan last month.

The convoy was reportedly intercepted on 5 September. “This weapons convoy clearly, geographically, originated in Iran,” Gen. McNeill said (AP, 18 October).