Russia, doesn’t buy Obama’s “spank the dictator” disciplinarian line, Warships to Protect Interests

Syria, Iran Threaten Retaliation; Russia Sends Warships
29 August, 2013 – by Oren Dorell – USA TODAY

Syrian allies Iran and Russia are working together to prevent a Western military attack on Syria, the Iranian president said, as Russia said it is sending warships to the Mediterranean, where U.S. ships are already in position.

Both Iran and Russia would work in “extensive cooperation” to prevent any military action against Syria, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in statements carried by several Iranian state-controlled media outlets. Western military action against Syria would be an “open violation” of international laws, he said.

“Military action will bring great costs for the region,” Rouhani said, and “it is necessary to apply all efforts to prevent it.”

Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, chief of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards, told the Tasnim news website, that an attack on Syria “means the immediate destruction of Israel.”

The statements came as Russian state-owned media reported that two Russian warships were sailing for the eastern Mediterranean Sea to protect Russian interests as tensions escalate in the region.

The ships, a missile cruiser and a large anti-submarine vessel, are traveling from the North Atlantic and will arrive in a number of days, Reuters reported.

Middle East analysts say weapons and terrorist networks at Iran’s disposal mean the threats should be taken seriously.

“Iran is a huge threat,” said Ariel Cohen, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

Both Iran and Syria have threatened to retaliate against Israel and other U.S. allies in the Middle East in the event of a U.S. attack on Syria over its alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians. Hundreds of Syrians in a region held by rebels were reported killed in an Aug. 21 attack.

Iran’s ruling mullahs are Syria’s main ally in the region and view the survival of the Assad regime as important to their aims. Mehdi Taeb, confidant of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said Syria is Iran’s “35th province. … If we lose Syria we won’t be able to hold Tehran,” writes Karim Sadjapour, an Iran expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Syria provides Iran a port on the Mediterranean Sea and a transit to Iran’s terrorist proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah. Iran is suspected of helping Syria evade U.S. and European sanctions by selling its oil on the international market, according to a report from Reuters. Iranian military leaders view an attack to topple Syria’s Assad regime as an opening salvo in a Western campaign to topple their own regime in Iran, Sadjapour said. …more