U.S. Def Sec Hagel: "U.S. Entering Accord with Iran ‘Very Cleared Eyed’.

U.S. Def Sec Hagel: "U.S. Entering Accord with Iran ‘Very Cleared Eyed’.HT: UskowiOnIran.

Standing on the massive deck of the Navy's USS Ponce, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the United States is entering the new nuclear pact with Iran “very clear eyed.” Hagel added that it remains to be seen whether Tehran is serious about keeping its nuclear development peaceful.

Referring to the next six months when the interim agreement will be in force, before a final deal could be worked out, Hagel said the time span presents a “very wise opportunity” to gauge Iranian intentions.

“(The next six months) present a very wise opportunity to see if the Iranians are serious about following through with commitments they have said they would make about not developing their nuclear capabilities,” Hagel told a crowd of Navy sailors and civilian mariners on the Ponce, which was docked at the U.S. base in Manama. (AP, 6 December)

“We are not going to change any of our military posture in this area or any part of the world during that six-month period. We will keep the same kind of strong assets, the same exercises, the same partnerships, the same focus on our strategic interests as we did before we entered into this six month period,” Hagel added.

Hagel’s visit to Bahrain comes less than two weeks after six major powers and Iran signed the Geneva agreement, practically freezing parts of Iranian nuclear program in exchange for some relief from sanctions.

The Ponce, which Hagel chose to use as the venue for his speech, was a former amphibious transport ship that was retrofitted to become a floating staging base. Its key ability is to provide a base for special operations forces that can then be quickly deployed into the region.

Navy has concluded that the Ponce has been a successful experiment, and have ordered the construction of four new ones at a projected cost of more than $2.1 billion. The first, called a Mobile Landing Platform, has been delivered to the fleet and the second MLP is under construction. Hmmmm......Israel's 'Staunchest allies'.