Persian Gulf States Negotiating to Buy Israeli Iron Dome System

Persian Gulf States Negotiating to Buy Israeli Iron Dome System
Wed Oct 14, 2015 17:21:41

Bahrain and other members of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) are in negotiations to buy the Israeli-developed Iron Dome anti-missile system to defend against WHAT they call "a growing arsenal of Iranian missiles".

The Israeli weapon would be bought through Raytheon and other American contractors who developed the Iron Dome with Israeli arms giant Rafael.

A deal for the whole of the PGCC, which includes Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait, would be worth tens, perhaps hundreds, of billions of dollars.

It is reported that it would also include longer range interceptor missiles such as David's Sling, and the Arrow I and Arrow II which are claimed capable of intercepting supersonic intercontinental ballistic missiles - also a joint venture between Israel and the US.

Khalid bin Mohammed al Khalifa, Bahrain's foreign minister said on the visit to London: "The Israelis have their small Iron Dome. We'll have a much bigger one in the PGCC."

According to thebulletin.org  the collection of data for Iron Dome's performance in July 2014 (last gaza war) is still in progress. The data we have collected so far indicates the performance of Iron Dome has not markedly improved.

A photo from November 2012 shows Iron Dome interceptor contrails that suggest ineffective sidelong or rear approaches to the target rocket.

"The sale of Israeli-developed weapons to a Persian Gulf state, or states, would have been controversial for both the Israelis and the buyers a few years ago.But both now see one of the main threats to them as the growing military strength of Iran, Sky News reports."

The US is quietly playing the "middle man" in the deal as a sweetener to bitterness caused in the Persian Gulf over what the leadership in that region believe is a "naive" deal with Iran over its nuclear programme.

"Iran has been trying to undermine and topple government in our region for years," the Bahrain foreign minister claimed.


He said that Iran's precision missile capacity was certain to increase as a consequence of the lifting of sanctions following the internationally brokered agreement with Tehran to end its nuclear activity.

""They will put a lot of money into this programme to develop techniques and tactics to defeat our missile defences ... the strategy appears to be one of saturation to stockpile enough missiles to overwhelm any defence system we build in the Persian Gulf," he added."

As a result of this perceived threat, plans to buy Israeli weapons, via the US, would result in a profits bonanza for both American and Israeli firms.

Talks are understood to be well advanced.

One senior Gulf government source said: "If Netanyahu were not making less of a mess of things and was more like Anwar Sadat (who signed a peace deal for Egypt with Israel) then we would be happy to buy the missiles straight from Israel."

Led by Saudi Arabia, PGCC nations are locked in a bloody conflict with Shi'a Houthi Popular  Movement in the Yemen.

"As a Iran -Russian crescent of influence is seen spreading across the Middle East so persianGulf States have been privately reaching out to the old enemy to Israel."

The PGCC's fears of an Iranian threat increasing when sanctions are lifted has been further deepened by Tehran's growing alliance with Moscow which, like Iran, has come to the military defence of the Syria.

As a Iran -Russian crescent of influence is seen spreading across the Middle East so persianGulf States have been privately reaching out to the old enemy to Israel.

Now with a potentially massive arms sale, those relations are begin to emerge from the shadows of regional rivalries.

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Persian Gulf States Negotiating to Buy Israeli Iron Dome SystemPersian Gulf States Negotiating to Buy Israeli Iron Dome SystemPersian Gulf States Negotiating to Buy Israeli Iron Dome System
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