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Washington think tank suggests “provocation” to “get us to war with Iran”

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Iranian Kilo Class submarine

“Iranian submarines periodically go down. Someday one of them might not come up” says Director of Research at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy

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Washington – October 08, 2012 A video emerged late last month in which Dr. Patrick Clawson Ph.D. ,  Director for Research at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, citing a string of historic incidences which started wars, including Pearl Harbor and the Gulf of Tolkien in Vietnam, suggested that in the face of the failure of sanctions against Iran, “it would be best if someone else started the war”.

Dr. Clawson then described a scenario in which one of Iran’s submarines sinks.

“So if in fact the Iranians aren’t going to compromise, it would be best if somebody else started the war…we could step up the pressure. I mean look people, Iranian submarines periodically go down. Someday one of them might not come up. Who would know why? We can do a variety of things to increase the pressure. I’m not advocating that…We are in the game of using covert means against the Iranians. We could get nastier then.” – Patrick Clawson, Director of Research, Washington Institute for Near East Policy

According to a September 19, 2012 U.S. Naval Update Map from private intelligence group Stratfor, the U.S.S. Enterprise and U.S.S. Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike groups are currently in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility (AOR), and the U.S.S. John Stennis carrier strike group is underway in the Pacific Ocean for a surge U.S. 5th Fleet AOR deployement. Two Amphibious Ready Groups/Marine Expeditionary Units (ARG) are also in the U.S. 5th Fleet AOR, according to Statfor.

The U.S. 5th Fleet is responsible for U.S. Navy operations in the Persian Gulf, among other areas.

Dr. Clawson, who according to his Washington Institute profile holds a Ph.D. in economics and previously served as a senior economist at the International Monetary Fund and at the World Bank, leads the Iran Security Initiative at the think tank.

Dr. Clawson’s remarks came at the end of a September 21, 2012 policy forum at the think tank called “How to Build U.S. –Israeli Coordination on Preventing an Iranian Nuclear Breakout”. The entire video can be viewed on the Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s website.

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