US Must Expand Military Presence in Persian Gulf to Deter Iran

© AFP 2023 / BRENDAN SMIALOWSKIEric S. Edelman, fellow at Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, listens during a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee January 27, 2015 in Washington, DC
Eric S. Edelman, fellow at Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, listens during a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee January 27, 2015 in Washington, DC - Sputnik International
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Former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Eric Edelman said that the US must expand its regional military presence to reassure Israel and the Gulf States and to deter Iran.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The United States should be prepared to expand its military presence in the Persian Gulf to guarantee regional stability amid the Iran nuclear deal, former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Eric Edelman told US senators on Tuesday.

“I think we are going to have to expand our regional military presence to reassure Israel and the Gulf States and to deter Iran,” Edelman said during a hearing on the regional impacts of the Iran nuclear deal.

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Following the July 14 signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), US allies in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Israel, and members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), raised concerns about a strengthened Iranian position in the region as a conventional and threshold nuclear military power.

The presumed shift in the security landscape as a result of the JCPOA means the United States will not be able to “maintain the assumption of unimpeded access and control in all domains of warfare in the Persian Gulf,” Edelman noted.

Edelman, who formerly advised neoconservative US Vice President Dick Cheney, advocated a host of new military hardware in the Persian Gulf to counter Iran’s defense capabilities.

“The US must take concerted efforts to maintain or achieve superiority in a range of areas,” he said. He specified enhancing long-range strike capabilities, advanced bunker-buster munitions, integrated and layered air and missile defenses for US allies, and greater capabilities to defend against cruise missile attacks.

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On Monday, US Secretary of State John Kerry held meetings in Doha, Qatar with members of the GCC to reassure them over the Iran nuclear agreement.

Last week, the United States announced a multi-billion dollar sale of Patriot surface-to-air missiles to Saudi Arabia as well as the delivery of eight F-16 fighter jets to Egypt.

After nearly two years of negotiations, Iran and the P5+1 countries of the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain, and Germany, reached a final agreement to guarantee the peaceful nature of Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

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