Sources: US in advanced stages of planning for attack on Iran; Able, ready to strike in the Spring

The USS Stennis aircraft carrier and the seven-vessel USS Bataan group are meeting up with the carrier USS Eisenhower (above) and others in the Persian Gulf. The Bataan group includes 2,200 U.S. Marines and sailors, helicopters and Harrier fighter jets. The U.S. Fifth Fleet, which is based in Bahrain, will be overseeing around 50 warships in the Mideast after the arrival of the Bataan and the USS Stennis carrier groups this month.

US preparations for an air strike against Iran are at an advanced stage, in spite of repeated public denials by the Bush administration, according to informed sources in Washington.

The present military build-up in the Gulf would allow the US to mount an attack by the spring. But the sources said that if there was an attack, it was more likely next year, just before Mr Bush leaves office.

Neo-conservatives, particularly at the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute, are urging Mr Bush to open a new front against Iran. So too is the vice-president, Dick Cheney. The state department and the Pentagon are opposed, as are Democratic congressmen and the overwhelming majority of Republicans. The sources said Mr Bush had not yet made a decision. The Bush administration insists the military build-up is not offensive but aimed at containing Iran and forcing it to make diplomatic concessions. The aim is to persuade Tehran to curb its suspect nuclear weapons programme and abandon ambitions for regional expansion.

Read the rest at the Guardian

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