Washington - Iran's neighbours - including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates - are talking to the United States about ways to bolster their defences, the general in charge of US arms sales said on Thursday.
Iran, which has defied United Nations demands to suspend enrichment of uranium that could be used to build bombs, has "awakened some major concerns" among all its neighbours, Air Force Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kohler said in a Reuters interview.
"We're in discussion with their services and their leaders to see what capabilities are required and how the United States can best fulfil those needs," said Kohler, who heads the Pentagon's Defence Security Cooperation Agency, which handles US government-to-government arms sales.
Potentially at stake are billions of dollars in US-built missile defence systems, ships to protect off-shore oil rigs and shipping lanes and the technology that would let Iran's neighbours share a digitally networked view of the Gulf.
Added to the likelihood that the neighbors of a nuclear Iran will likely go nuclear, and it is easy to see how the Gulf Arab states will back a military campaign to destroy Iran's nuclear ambitions.
