Georgia warned against anti-Iran alliance

[sullivan]

LONDON, October 4 (IranMania) - A senior Russian official has warned that Georgia's involvement in a probable US war against Iran will pose a threat to Moscow's national security, PressTV reported.

"If it decides to carry out rocket and bomb attacks against Iran, the US will need loyal allies. And if Georgia is involved in this war, this will pose additional threats to Russia's national security," Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev told Izvestiya on Thursday.

Russia says the US could have plans to use Georgian airfields to launch air strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.

The United States refuses to take a military option against Iran off the table, maintaining that Tehran, a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), has plans to develop a nuclear weapons program.

The UN nuclear watchdog, which has extensively monitored Iran's nuclear activities since 2003, said in its latest report that it found no 'components of a nuclear weapon' or 'related nuclear physics studies' in the country.

When asked what he thought about a theoretical situation whereby Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili confused US far-reaching plans to carry out rocket and bomb attacks on Iran from Georgian territory, Patrushev said: "If the US does decide to begin an armed aggression against Iran, then Georgia is not the only place from which they can theoretically attack the country. But your version too has the right to exist."

The comment came after the August confrontation between Russia and Georgia when Tbilisi attacked South Ossetia, to reclaim the breakaway province by force.

In mid-September, Russia's envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, said that Russian intelligence had obtained information indicating that Washington had plans to use the Georgian military infrastructure for a war on Iran.

Rogozin said that the US had already started 'active military preparations on Georgia's territory' for an air strike on Iran.

The Russian envoy's remarks follow a UPI report that 'a secret agreement between Georgia and Israel had earmarked two military airfields in the south of Georgia for use by Israeli fighter-bombers in a potential pre-emptive strike against Iran.'

Tel Aviv, with more than 200 undeclared nuclear weapons, has on many occasions threatened to launch air strikes against Iranian nuclear installations. In September, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Israel is determined to use 'any option' to stop Iran's undertaking.

Rogozin said if a military operation against Iran goes ahead with the help of the Georgian government, he would have 'pity for Georgia, because Iran is certain to defend itself.'