The US has aircraft carriers, gunboats, minesweepers, and robot subs stationed in Bahrain and sold billions of dollars' worth of arms to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates.

Obama should make a public declaration against military action by Israel before this possible event, not afterwards. We need a pre-emptive declaration before any pre-emptive war.

The US is arming Arab allies in the Persian Gulf with a missile defense system to protect cities, oil refineries, pipelines and military bases from Iranian attack.

The absence of pro-peace voices in the media isolates Americans from realities of war, stokes irrational fears, and dehumanizes the victims as the faceless "Other."

What is now at stake is not only a threat of a major war in a volatile region, but more importantly for the long run, the future of the international peacemaking process itself.

The aim is to bankrupt the country and cause economic collapse, provoking mass suffering -- ordinary people in Iran are no longer collateral damage, but the intended targets of sanctions.

Widespread and impenetrable false beliefs in the realm of foreign policy means that the political leadership can pretty easily launch a war if and when they decide to do so.

Human rights activists and civil society actors in Iran say a US/Israeli war would undermine the democracy movement and be an absolute tragedy undoing its hard work for reforms.

Obama's embrace of Bush/Cheney terrorism and civil liberties policies — is doing more to entrench those once-controversial policies than Bush and Cheney ever dreamt of doing.

Sawers "two years" threat may not be as startling as Tony Blair's infamous claim that Iraq could activate weapons of mass destruction "within 45 minutes". But its purpose is the same.

There is still no evidence that Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons. but evidence is irrelevant when the enormous economic power of the US and EU can force a country to its knees.

Whether Netanyahu is a mad dog about to bomb Iran or using threatening logic to provoke more oil sanctions, the effect is the same: pre-election Obama is playing Israel's game to the hilt.

Companies like Apple should be leading the charge to lift sanctions that violate freedom of speech and access to information, not overzealously applying these policies.

US Troops have been on the border of Jordan and Saudi Arabia for the past month simulating a landing and attack on Iran, preparing America and its allies for war.

According to the media, the United States, as one among equals, in coalition with most of the world's good countries, is asking the evil nation of Iran for some very reasonable requests.

US and UK government and military officials may express dread at the thought of a conflict with Iran but they are still making plans to support an Israeli attack.