U.S. Plans $7 Billion Missile-Defense Sale To UAE
A little LBA Background on this situation….
Iran & The UAE have been getting into some rather “Heated Arguments” lately concerning a little Island known as Abu Musa. You see, the Island (land) actually belongs to the UAE and Iran claims no, it belongs to Iran due to GB’s handover in 1971. So, Iran being the little “Napoleon” especially with the backing of Russia, just took the Island as theirs…
The Island of Abu Musa’s Location
The Island is situated at the mouth of the narrows of the Strait of Hormuz. Tell me class, what strategic position could this mean for Iran to build a military base there? Also, keep in mind the media is calling their military base, offices for “Marine Life Rescue” and a registration office for ships and sailors. Im surprised their not building baby formula plants there….
Also, up to 40 percent of the world’s oil supply passes through the area.
How many offices would you need to build on an island of less then 600 people?
See my earlier report here..
Iran Builds Marine Offices On Disputed Island: Iran Plan To Block Strait Of Hormuz?
UAE has filed a complaint with the UN in conjunction with the six Gulf Cooperation Council condeming Iran for their actions.
See here: Iran’s island offices condemned
Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunb islands are controlled by Iran but claimed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with broad Arab support.
Now knowing how the UN is with everything, (Slack asses that they are), it looks like the UAE is seeking assistance from the USA.
September 8, 2008
Reuters
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is planning to sell the United Arab Emirates an advanced U.S. missile defense system valued at up to $7 billion that could be used to defend against Iran, people who have attended briefings on the matter said on Monday.
The Pentagon is set to notify the U.S. Congress of the proposed sale, which would be the first of the so-called Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, several people familiar with the matter said.
THAAD is built by Lockheed Martin Corp
Once notified of such a proposed arms sale by the administration, Congress has 30 days to review it but almost never blocks.
In any case, deployment of the THAAD weapons system is “at least months away” and could take more than a year, said a congressional staff member familiar with the matter.
Kenneth Katzman, an expert on the Gulf at the Congressional Research Service, said the UAE has been eager for a “sophisticated antidote” to Iran’s missile capabilities.
“The UAE has been concerned for many years about possible retaliation against it for U.S. or Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities,” he said.
For Iran, Katzman added, UAE could be an attractive target because of its billions of dollars of infrastructure investments.
Craig Vanbebber, a Lockheed Martin spokesman, said several countries had shown interest in buying the THAAD system, “with its significant coverage area and tremendous success in recent testing.”
THAAD is the first missile defense system designed to defend against short- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles both inside and outside the Earth’s atmosphere.
The potential $7 billion sale would include anti-missile interceptors, firing units, associated radar sites and training, among other things, a congressional staff member said.
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