Soob

IRAN has trained secret networks of agents across the Gulf states to attack Western interests and incite civil unrest in the event of a military strike against its nuclear program, a former Iranian diplomat has revealed.

Spies working as teachers, doctors and nurses at Iranian-owned schools and hospitals have formed sleeper cells ready to be "unleashed" at the first sign of any serious threat to Tehran, it is claimed.

Trained by Iranian intelligence, they are also said to be recruiting fellow Shiites in the region, whose communities have traditionally been marginalised by the Gulf's ruling Arab clans.

Were America or Israel to attack Iran, such cells would be instructed to foment long-dormant sectarian grievances and attack the extensive American and European business interests in wealth centres such as Dubai and Saudi Arabia.

Such a scenario would bring chaos to the Gulf region, one of the few areas of the Middle East that remains prosperous and has largely pro-Western governments.

The claims have been made by Adel Assadinia, a former career diplomat who was Iran's consul-general in Dubai and an adviser to the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

An example (assuming it's true) of the double edged effect of globalization. In one respect it makes large scale state war counter intuitive. In another it presents "rogue" states with a very effective lever against the threat of overwhelming military action. Or, in the case of Iraq's Sunni insurgency a lever to affect US policy in Iraq to a detrimental degree, IMO.

Why is it the US is willing to "bite the hydrocarbon hand that feeds them" in respect to our fractious relationship with Venezuela but is completely unwilling to address both the reckless diplomacy and covert complicity (however indirect) of the Saud royalty?