Timed only a few days after a released U.N. commissioned report showing that Iran's nuclear program included activities "specific to nuclear weapons," The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the U.S. may sell a package of precision-guided bombs to the United Arab Emirates in order to help "build a regional coalition to counter Iran." And Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was already characteristically defiant about the U.N. report before this news. The Journal says that the weapons could be outfitted on the UAE's U.S.-built fleet of F-16's. The proposal will reportedly be presented to Congress shortly:

The proposed sale to the United Arab Emirates would vastly expand the existing capabilities of the country's air force to target fixed structures, which could include bunkers and tunnels—the kind of installations where Iran is believed to be developing weapons.

...The proposed package for U.A.E. is expected to be formally presented to Congress in the coming days and would authorize the sale of up to 4,900 joint direct attack munitions, or JDAMs, along with other weapons systems.

Reuters seconded The Journal's report, and noted that the U.S. "is trying to build up the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, UAE, and Kuwait, as a unified counterweight to Iran."

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Erik Hayden