Conflict with Iran may grow

WASHINGTON – The possibility of a confrontation between the United States and Iran appeared to grow Tuesday after the Obama administration dismissed an Iranian warning against moving a U.S. aircraft carrier into the Persian Gulf, saying the deployment was crucial to “the security and stability of the region.”

Fears that a crisis could disrupt Gulf tanker traffic carrying 40 percent of the world’s sea-borne oil drove international petroleum prices up by more than $4 a barrel, a potential threat to U.S. and global economies struggling to emerge from recession.

The rising tensions come as the U.S. and Europe target Iran’s crucial oil revenues for the first time in an intensification of sanctions against Tehran for rejecting repeated U.N. demands to halt its nuclear program. The program is widely thought to be secretly developing nuclear arms, which Iran denies.

The Iranian currency, the rial, plunged to a record low against the U.S. dollar, reportedly triggering a run on banks by Iranians anxious to convert their savings into the American currency before the exchange rate worsens.

Gen. Ataollah Salehi, the Iranian army chief, warned that Iran would take unspecified action if a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS Stennis – which leads a strike group of five warships – re-enters the Gulf. The carrier departed the waterway last week as Iran conducted naval exercises.

“We recommend and warn the aircraft carrier not to return to its previous position in the Persian Gulf,” Press TV, a state-run English-language satellite news channel, quoted Salehi as saying. “We are not in the habit of repeating a warning and we warn only once.”

The United States rejected the warning, declaring that “the deployment of U.S. military assets in the Persian Gulf will continue as it has for decades.”

White House spokesman Jay Carney sought to minimize the threat, portraying it as a bid by Iran to divert its people’s attention from their worsening economic plight and growing international isolation. Salehi’s comments are “confirmation that Tehran is under increasing pressure,” Carney said.

Vali Nasr, a former State Department adviser who’s with Tufts University’s Fletcher School for international affairs, said Salehi’s comment appeared to push tensions to a new level.

“You now have a situation where you could have a cycle of events that could basically escalate into a conflict that neither side may necessarily be planning for,” Nasr said.