U.S. boosts Persian Gulf missile defense

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is accelerating the deployment of new defenses against possible Iranian missile attacks in the Persian Gulf, placing special ships off the Iranian coast and anti-missile systems in at least four Arab countries, administration and military officials said.

The deployments come at a critical point in President Obama's dealings with Iran's leadership. He is warning that his diplomatic outreach will be combined with the "consequences," as he put it in his State of the Union address, of Iran's continued defiance on its nuclear program.

The administration is trying to win broad international consensus for sanctions against the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, which Western leaders say controls the military side of the nuclear program.

As part of that effort, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton publicly warned China on Friday that its opposition to sanctions was shortsighted.

The news that the United States is deploying anti-missile defenses — with a rare public discussion by Gen. David Petraeus — appears to be part of a coordinated administration strategy to increase pressure on Iran.

Sending a message

The deployments are also partly intended to counter the impression that Iran is fast becoming the most powerful military force in the Middle East and to forestall any Iranian escalation of its confrontation with the West if a new set of sanctions is imposed.

In addition, the administration is trying to show Israel that there is no immediate need for military strikes against Iranian nuclear and missile facilities, said the administration officials, all of whom requested anonymity.

By highlighting the defensive nature of the buildup, officials said the administration was trying to contain any Iranian threat without provoking a sharp response from the government. Military officials said the countries that accepted the missiles were Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait.

The Kuwaitis have agreed to take additional U.S.-supplied batteries to supplement older, less capable models it fielded years ago, while it awaits delivery of an upgraded system from Raytheon. Saudi Arabia and Israel have long had similar equipment of their own.

Sensitive military aid

Petraeus has declined to say who was taking the U.S. equipment, probably because many countries in the Gulf are hesitant to be publicly identified as accepting U.S. military aid and the troops that come with it. Indeed, the names of countries where the anti-missile systems are deployed are classified, but many of them are an open secret.

Petraeus spoke about the deployments at a conference Jan. 22. He said the acceleration of defensive systems — which began when President George W. Bush was in office — included "eight Patriot missile batteries, two in each of four countries." Patriot missiles are capable of shooting down short-range offensive missiles.

Petraeus also described a first line of defense: He said the United States was keeping Aegis cruisers on patrol in the Persian Gulf at all times. Those cruisers are equipped with advanced radar and anti-missile systems designed to intercept medium-range missiles.

None of those systems would be useful against Iran's long-range missile, the Shahab III, but intelligence agencies think it will be years before Iran can solve the many problems involved in placing a nuclear warhead atop that missile.

Several purposes

As described by administration officials, the moves have several motives.

"Our first goal is to deter the Iranians," said one senior administration official. "A second is to reassure the Arab states, so they don't feel they have to go nuclear themselves. But there is certainly an element of calming the Israelis as well."

U.S. officials contend that willingness of Arab states to take the U.S. anti-missile emplacements, which usually come with a small deployment of U.S. soldiers to operate, maintain and protect the equipment, illustrates the region's growing unease about Iran's ambitions and abilities.

Oman, which has always been sensitive about perceptions that it is doing U.S. bidding, has also been approached, but there is no deployment of Patriots there, according to U.S. officials.