Undeclared War Against Iran?

"Undeclared" may be the wrong word, since Congress no longer declares wars, but has ceded that authority to the President. 

Anyway, I've noticed a couple articles today putting the pieces together of the various unfortunate events that seem to have targeted the Iranian missile program--from the assassination of key scientists to the mysterious explosions at military installations--and draw the conclusion that the West is already waging a war against Iran. Here is one from the Daily Mail.

Sanctions and mounting international pressure appear to have failed to persuade the country to slow down its pursuit of uranium enrichment.

And many observers believe the blowing-up of facilities and targeting of key scientists is a more direct way of halting their ambitions.

Patrick Clawson, of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said he was under no illusion as to what was occurring.

He told the Los Angeles Times: 'It looks like the 21st century form of war.

'It does appear that there is a campaign of assassinations and cyber war, as well as the semi-acknowledged campaign of sabotage.' What is not clear is whose hand is behind the 'attacks' on Iran's nuclear sites.

One retired U.S. official, with up to date intelligence, told the National Journal: 'It's safe to say the Israelis are very active.'

He added about U.S. efforts: 'Everything that [GOP presidential candidate] Mitt Romney said we should be doing - tough sanctions, covert action and pressuring the international community - are all of the things we are actually doing.'

On November 12, a huge explosion flattened the Revolutionary Guard base at Bid Kaneh, killing 17 people including a founder of Iran's ballistic missile programme.

A separate blast last week badly damaged the uranium enrichment facility in Isfahan.

Two nuclear physicists were killed and Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, were wounded by bombs attached to their cars or detonated near them last year.

Mark Hibbs, a nuclear expert at the Carnegie Endowment in Germany, said the intensity of the covert war indicated that this is where the U.S. and Israel are putting their energy for now.

He said: 'If the U.S. or Israel were determined to take Iran’s nuclear installations out they wouldn’t be wasting time pinpointing individual scientists like this.'