Captain's Quarters -

The Iranians have a plan if the West attacks them over their nuclear program, and they will not restrict themselves to military action. The London Telegraph reports that the Iranians have sent sleeper cells throughout the Gulf states -- and elsewhere -- and will activate them for revenge terrorist attacks if attacked themselves:

Iran has trained secret networks of agents across the Gulf states to attack Western interests and incite civil unrest in the event of a military strike against its nuclear programme, a former Iranian diplomat has told The Sunday Telegraph.

Spies working as teachers, doctors and nurses at Iranian-owned schools and hospitals have formed sleeper cells ready to be "unleashed" at the first sign of any serious threat to Teheran, it is claimed.

Trained by Iranian intelligence services, they are also said to be recruiting fellow Shias in the region, whose communities have traditionally been marginalised by the Gulf's ruling Sunni Arab clans.

Were America or Israel to attack Iran, such cells would be instructed to foment long-dormant sectarian grievances and attack the ex-tensive American and European business interests in wealthy states such as Dubai and Saudi Arabia. Such a scenario would bring chaos to the Gulf, one of the few areas of the Middle East that remains prosperous and has largely pro-Western governments.

For anyone who does not believe that a war on radical Islamist terrorism includes Iran, this should disabuse them of their naiveté. Iran has already done this in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. Their organizations in those places are called Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad, and they do exactly what this article describes as a potential scenario throughout Southwest Asia.

On one hand, this points out a certain level of futility in the Iranian military. They have more readiness than Saddam Hussein's armies had in March 2003, but only because they still have an air force -- and that would only last the first couple of days in any conflict with the West. Nations that can defend themselves do not resort to terrorism as a deterrent. It took the Imperial Japanese three years of war against the US to reach the kamikaze stage, and since that was one military attacking another, it wasn't terrorism at all. In this case, Iran will take all of three minutes to cede their military insufficiency.

Adel Assidinia, the named source for this story, has other tales to tell. Formerly Iran's consul-general in Dubai and an important advisor to Iran's foreign ministry, Assidinia revealed that Iran has an extensive network throughout the region of spies and double agents. They run brothels in order to conduct "honey-pot" blackmail and extortion rackets against high-ranking government officials. They also track Iranian expatriates in order to use them for informants or sleepers -- and the primary thrust of the entire effort is to maintain security for Iranian nuclear-weapons research.

These agents will have the primary directive to unleash a wave of Shi'ite violence against Sunni targets throughout the region. All of these nations have sectarian divides to greater or lesser extents, but all are significant, and all could easily erupt into Baghdad-style violence if prompted. If this sounds familiar, consider Iran's role in the current violence in Baghdad as a clue to what they could do throughout the region.

It could get very bloody very fast in southwest Asia. Small wonder that our allies there would prefer a diplomatic solution to the problem.

UPDATE: I'm not talking about the proud Gulf states of Lousiana, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, etc. I'm talking about them there other Gulf states. Thanks to Peyton in the comments for a good laugh!