Iran Hints at Oil 'Tool' If Attacked

TEHRAN, June 19--Iran will not rule out using oil as a weapon if the US resorts to military action against the country, a senior Iranian oil official said in remarks published Tuesday.

Washington says it wants a diplomatic end to a standoff over Iran's nuclear energy program but has not ruled out force if that route fails.

Iranian officials say they do not want to use oil as a weapon but have also said they might do so if pushed.

Iran's OPEC governor, Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, said that "when the Americans say that military action in regard to the nuclear issue has not been put aside, Iran can also say that it will not put aside oil as a tool".

"We will not start using this tool (of oil) but if others use their tools that they have not put aside to put pressure on negotiations, it is natural that the two sides would discuss all their tools."

Asked what would be the impact if Iran stopped its oil exports, Kazempour Ardebili said: "Definitely the market will be faced with a new shock and oil prices will increase strongly."

He added that prices would climb above $100 a barrel.

Although Iran is OPEC's No. 2 oil producer, it imports about 40 percent of its domestic gasoline needs to meet domestic demand for fuel.

Washington has described this as "leverage" in the nuclear standoff with Tehran.

However, Kazempour Ardebili said Iran would never face problems obtaining gasoline even if some threatened to hinder supplies.

"If anybody makes a threat about not giving gasoline he should know he will not be successful because the main producers of gasoline are members of OPEC and we will never have difficulties in regards to gasoline," he said.

"We believe energy supplies should be de-politicized as much as possible," he added.

Iran has said it will introduce gasoline rationing for motorists as part of efforts to reduce surging consumption.

So far only government cars have been rationed and rationing for other motorists has been delayed from May 22.

No official announcement has been made about when the full rationing system will formally start.

Gates: Taliban Fighters Use Iran Weapons

(KABUL, Afghanistan)—Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday that Iranian weapons are falling into the hands of anti-government Taliban fighters but he stopped short of blaming Tehran. Afghan President Hamid Karzai seemed to dismiss the matter.

At a news conference at the presidential palace, Gates offered possible explanations for the flow of weapons from Iran to this war-scarred country, including smuggling. He mentioned no specific weapons, but NATO officials recently cited the discovery in Kabul of an armor-piercing roadside bomb, the same type U.S. officials have long complained are entering Iraq from Iran.

"There have been indications over the past few months of weapons coming in from Iran," Gates told reporters with Karzai at his side. "We do not have any information about whether the government of Iran is supporting this, is behind it, or whether it's smuggling."

Gates, on his second visit to Afghanistan since becoming Pentagon chief last December, said that while the weapons appear to be going to Taliban fighters, some may be headed to criminals in the Afghan drug trade. Asked his own view, Karzai appeared eager to give the Iranian government a pass.

He said there was no evidence of Iranian government involvement, adding, "Iran and Afghanistan have never been as friendly as they are today."

There is no reason for Iran to aid the Taliban, Karzai said. "It is in the interests of our brothers in Iran" to support the development of a more stable and prosperous Afghanistan. He said that also applied to Pakistan, on Afghanistan's eastern border, where U.S. officials say Taliban fighters have found haven and easy passage for cross-border attacks on U.S., NATO and Afghan troops.

A prevalent view among U.S. officials is that Tehran, while not an ally of the Taliban, is seizing any feasible opportunity in both Iraq and Afghanistan to complicate U.S. stabilization efforts and to tie down the American military amid tensions between Tehran and Washington over Iran's nuclear program.

Later, Gates flew to Kandahar in southern Afghanistan, at the heart of the fight against the Taliban, where he conferred privately with U.S. and NATO commanders. Afterward he flew to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan to meet with government officials on Tuesday.

Before the Kabul news conference, Gates flew by helicopter to Camp Morehead, a sparse military outpost ringed by mountain peaks several miles outside Kabul. American and French special forces there are training Afghan commandos in stealthy operations U.S. officials believe are crucial to undermining the Taliban. The first class of recruits is four weeks into its 12-week course.

At Morehead, Gates met Gen. Bismullah Khan, one of the most well-known of the former mujahadeen fighters from the days of Soviet occupation. The general, now head of the Afghan National Army, gave Gates a large book that he said featured descriptions of battlefield exploits by Ahmed Shah Massoud, who played a leading role in driving the Soviet occupation army out of Afghanistan. Massoud, later an Afghan minister of defense, was assassinated by al-Qaida agents two days before the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

In an interview with reporters traveling with Gates, Khan said he is pushing the U.S. to accelerate the training and equipping of the Afghan National Army to hasten the day when it can fight the Taliban without relying on U.S. air and ground support.

"The problem we have is that we are not able to conduct operations independently," Khan said through an interpreter. He cited specifically a lack of Afghan air support and the kind of "direct fire" support provided by tanks. "We are looking forward to the day when we can fight the enemy independently."

The general was asked how soon he thought his forces could function without U.S. military support.

"We ask for it to be as soon as possible," he replied. "I will ask the secretary of defense to expedite the (training and equipping) process so we can do this. The only way to defeat the enemy is to become independent."

The U.S. is committed to training and equipping an Afghan army of 70,000 soldiers, hoping to reach that figure by December 2008.

"It's not going to be enough," Khan said. "We will ask for more."

Those who fight and those who do not (bbc)

By Paul Reynolds World Affairs correspondent BBC News website

Australia is one of 37 nations involved in the Nato operation

The Australian plan to nearly double its forces in Afghanistan, to about 1,000, again illustrates the division between the countries that are willing to fight against the Taleban and those that hold back.

Significantly, the deployment will include many more special forces. The province where the Australians are based, Uruzgan, is expected to be the scene of increased fighting.

Thirty-seven nations take part in the Nato-commanded International Assistance Force for Afghanistan (Isaf), providing more than 35,000 troops between them.

But only a handful are in the front line. They are sent by governments committed to winning against the Taleban and fearful that safe havens will be set up for al-Qaeda again, just as they were before the attacks of 9/11.

Force levels

The main forces are the Americans (12,000 in Isaf, with another 8,000 under their own national command), the British (going up to 7,700 soon), the Canadians (2,500), the Dutch (2,100), the Poles (who reinforced earlier this year to 1000) and the Australians (going up to 1,000 by 2009).

There are also fighting forces from Denmark, Estonia and Romania. The Estonians are said by one expert to have better armoured vehicles than the British with whom they are based in Helmand province.

The French have some special forces with the Americans.

The main fighting is in the east and south. Elsewhere, Isaf troops are engaged more in peacekeeping and reconstruction than war fighting

The issue of caveats

The division of responsibilities is the result of decisions by national governments to keep their own troops away from major combat.

Caveats have always been an issue and we have worked hard to minimise them Mark Laity Nato

This has resulted in a list of caveats which prevent their troops from being deployed in certain areas and circumstances.

British General David Richards, commander of Isaf until February, stretched out his arms at a recent seminar in London and said he had had a list of caveats that long.

Nato and Isaf have now worked their way around many of these problems.

Reinforcements from the fighting contributors are being sent to the south and east.

"Caveats have always been an issue and we have worked hard to minimise them," says Mark Laity, until recently the Nato spokesman in Kabul and now chief of strategic communications for Supreme Allied Headquarters in Europe.

"But the problems we had have been lessened by the large number of troops going to the south. All nations in Isaf make contributions to the overall force," he adds.

The caveats are mainly geographical, with governments stating that their forces cannot be transferred out of the areas to which they are assigned.

There are some exceptions for an emergency but the basic position remains.

An example of a smaller caveat is the refusal of some forces (the Germans at one stage did this) to go on night patrols because they lack night vision equipment.

The value of some of the troops in the quieter areas would be minimal in heavy combat, as they are not configured for such fighting.

The caveats of course serve to emphasise the difference between those who fight and those who do not.

The United States increased its combat power significantly earlier this year by adding a combat brigade. Britain announced a reinforcement package in February. The Australians have now followed suit. The Dutch already have Apache helicopters and F-16 fighters.

Canada resumes its role

A major contributor, Canada, has just lost six more soldiers, in a roadside bomb. In Afghanistan, Canada has emerged again in its traditional fighting role, obscured by years in which it sought to become more of a specialist in peacekeeping.

It so happens that this is the 90th anniversary of the allied offensive east of Arras in April 1917, which started well with the Canadian assault on Vimy Ridge.

But other countries, like France, Germany, Italy and Spain, while Nato members and keen to help the Afghan government, do not want to get drawn into fighting the Taleban. The French have carrying out air operations over Afghanistan, however.

In the meantime, longer term plans are being implemented to train and equip the Afghan army and police, on whom ultimate success probably depends.

"We can clear an area with Nato troops," said one Nato official. "But without the Afghan forces there to hold it, the Taleban will filter back."