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Dubai police chief threatens sleeper cells in Iran
Dubai's chief of police has threatened to create sleeper cells in Iran if it is proven that it is involved in any attempts to destabilize the Gulf region.

Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan said that Gulf countries have the financial ability to infiltrate Iranian ranks since Iran has 15 million citizens of Arab origins that potentially could be recruited, especially given that they live in dire conditions, the London-based Asharq al-Awsat reported Wednesday.
"It is not in Iran's interest to play this game, especially that Gulf countries respect their neighbors. If they have a cell we can have thousands."
"It is not in Iran's interest to play this game, especially that Gulf countries respect their neighbors. This shouldn't come from a neighboring Muslim country," the paper quoted Khalfan as saying. "We ask them to resort to reason, but if they have a cell we can have thousands."

Khalfan's statements came in the wake of allegations by a senior Iranian defector that Iran runs a network of agents in the six Arab monarchies of the Gulf that could be used to destabilize the region. Adel al-Assadi, who was consul general in Dubai with the rank of ambassador before defecting in 2001, said Shiite Iran's Revolutionary Guards started to set up the sleeper cells right after the 1979 Islamic revolution in Tehran. Iranian Defence Minister Mustafa Mohammad Najjar denied the claim.

Khalfan expressed his surprise at Iran's threats to close the Strait of Hormuz and attack oil tankers in the case of an American or Israeli strike: "As if we in the Gulf countries are a party in the conflict. If Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz, our oil resources will be jeopardized unless we find another route for our oil tankers."

That is why Khalfan suggested reviving an idea that late Prime Minister Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum suggested in the 1980s following Ayatollah Khomeini's attack on oil tankers. His idea was to dig a canal from Ras al-Khaimah to the Arabian Sea. "If the Gulf countries do not take an action about this canal, our oil will be in danger in case the U.S. or Israel takes any rash steps," explained Khalfan.

However, he said Iran is unlikely to strike oil facilities in the Gulf and argued that it is more probable that it would attack oil tankers and blockade the Strait of Hormuz. "Plus, the whole world will stand by the Gulf countries to protect the oil and will not allow any impulsive party to ruin a wealth that the entire world depends on," Khalfan said in the interview. "The world will not come to our rescue for our sake, but rather for protecting their own security."

Khalfan asked Iran to be reasonable and not to involve the Gulf in its conflict with Israel and the U.S. and to stop issuing provocative statements that antagonize Gulf countries. Khalfan added that incidents like the Gulf war proved that Gulf countries are all united in both distress and prosperity. "We have very strong ties. It's true we don't have big troops, but we have technology, and this is what warfare depends on. The best example is Hezbollah's war with Israel. Military show off is no longer intimidating."
Posted by: Fred 2008-09-26
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=251053