U.S. diplomat tells Iran to back off in Gulf

The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C, Stennis steams out of the naval base at Kitsap Bremerton, Wa., on Tuesday on its way to the Gulf. Master Chief Jerry Mclain / AP

This is off MSNBC News:

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - A second U.S. aircraft carrier strike group now steaming toward the Middle East is Washington’s way of warning Iran to back down in its attempts to dominate the region, a top U.S. diplomat said here Tuesday.

Nicholas Burns, U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, ruled out direct negotiations with Iran and said a rapprochement between Washington and Tehran was “not possible” until Iran halts uranium enrichment.

“The Middle East isn’t a region to be dominated by Iran. The Gulf isn’t a body of water to be controlled by Iran. That’s why we’ve seen the United States station two carrier battle groups in the region,” Burns said in an address to the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center, an influential think-tank.

“Iran is going to have to understand that the United States will protect its interests if Iran seeks to confront us,” Burns continued.

Iran is in a standoff with the West over its defiance of U.N. demands to halt uranium enrichment, which can produce fuel for both nuclear energy and nuclear weapons. Iran says its atomic program is aimed solely at generating energy, but the United States and some of its allies suspect it is geared toward making weapons. The U.N. imposed limited sanctions on Iran last month.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said last week that Iran is “ready for anything” in its confrontation with the United States.

Iran conducted missile tests on Monday, the first of five days of military maneuvers southeast of Tehran.

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The American aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis and several accompanying ships are heading toward the Gulf to join an aircraft carrier group already in the region, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Stennis is expected to arrive in late February.

The Stennis’s arrival in the Middle East will mark the first time since the U.S.-led Iraq invasion in 2003 that the United States has had two carrier battle groups in the region.

The U.S. Navy said Tuesday that the minesweeper USS Gladiator arrived in the Persian Gulf, one of six such ships — four American, two British — now plying the Gulf for anti-ship mines. U.S. officials have long said Iran was likely to block busy Gulf shipping lanes in a conflict.

So, the aircraft carrier John C. Stennis is heading out to the Persian Gulf to join the Eisenhower. The Stennis will be in the Gulf by late February. U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs Nicholas Burns is rattling sabers against Iran, demanding that Iran halt its nuclear program before any negotiations between Iran and the U.S. can start. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is telling the U.S. to go "F#@$" itself by conducting Iranian missile tests. And the president will be making his SOTU speech tonight--with his own harsh words against Iran.

We're heading towards another war.