Washington Post, April 26, 2008 — The nation’s top military officer said yesterday that the Pentagon is planning for “potential military courses of action” as one of several options against Iran , criticizing what he called the Tehran government’s “increasingly lethal and malign influence” in Iraq .
Adm. Michael Mullen , chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , said a conflict with Iran would be “extremely stressing” but not impossible for U.S. forces, pointing to reserve capabilities in the Navy and Air Force.
“It would be a mistake to think that we are out of combat capability,” he said at a Pentagon news conference. Speaking of Iran’s intentions, Mullen said: “They prefer to see a weak Iraq neighbor. . . . They have expressed long-term goals to be the regional power.”
Mullen’s statements and others by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates recently signal new rhetorical pressure on Iran by the Bush administration amid what officials say is increased Iranian provision of weapons, training and financing to Iraqi groups that are attacking and killing Americans.
Army Gen. David H. Petraeus , the top U.S. commander in Iraq, who was nominated this week to head all U.S. forces in the Middle East, is preparing a briefing soon on increased Iranian involvement in Iraq, Mullen said. The briefing will detail, for example, the discovery in Iraq of weapons that were very recently manufactured in Iran, he said.
“The Iranian government pledged to halt such activities some months ago. It’s plainly obvious they have not,” Mullen said. He said unrest in the Iraqi city of Basra had highlighted a “level of involvement” by Iran that had not been clear previously.