US Strikes A Military Pose for Iran  by Kaveh L Afrasiabi
(source: Asia Times Online) Tuesday, May 1, 2012  For all the
talk of the United States' long-standing hegemony in the oil-
rich Persian Gulf, its military superiority is not without
shortfalls that, in turn, show significant flaws in its ability
to maintain a "credible military threat" against Iran, the stand
that nowadays complements its coercive diplomacy vis-a-vis
Iran's nuclear program.  With the next round of talks between
Iran and the "P5+1" (also known as the "Iran Six", the permanent
members of the United Nations Security Council - the United
States, Britain, France, China and Russia - plus Germany)
nations scheduled in Iraq on May 23, Washington has skillfully
combined the carrot of softening its "red line" by reportedly
considering the option of tolerating Iran's low-enriched uranium
program, with the "long stick" of adding new layers of military
threats aimed at convincing Tehran to be beware that, should the
Baghdad talks fail, the wrath of