The White House's plans to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist organization are meant to give the Bush administration cover if it launches military strikes on the Islamic republic, according to a prominent former CIA officer, cited by the Sunday Telegraph.
Robert Baer, who was a high-ranking operative in the Middle East, was quoted by the newspaper as saying that senior government officials had told him the administration was preparing for air strikes on the guards' bases and probably also on Iran's nuclear facilities within the next six months. The US is expected to list the guards as a terror group in the coming weeks.
The British report added that among President George W Bush's closest advisers, there is a fierce debate about whether to take unilateral military action independently of any UN security council moves. While Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is set on diplomacy, Vice-President Dick Cheney is understood to favour air strikes.
Baer said: "The feeling in the administration is that we should have taken care of the guards a long, long time ago. We won't see American troops cross the border. If this is going to happen, it is going to happen very quickly and it is going to surprise a lot of people."
