Georgian attack a 'dress rehearsal' for strike against Iran: expert

Moscow, Aug 27 (UNI) A senior Russian military expert today said the US and NATO, by arming Tbilisi, used the conflict in Georgia as a dress rehearsal for a military operation against Iran.

''We are close to a serious conflict as US and NATO preparations on a strategic scale are going on,'' president of the Academy of Geopolitical Studies Col Gen Leonid Ivashov told a news conference.

''In the operation the West conducted on Georgian soil against Russia, South Ossetians were the victims or hostages of it.

We can see a rehearsal for an attack on Iran,'' he said.

There is a great deal of 'new features' today that are being fine-tuned in the theater of military operations, he added.

Mr Ivashov said the possibility of a war against Iran was growing with each passing day. ''As a result, the situation in the region will become destabilised,'' he said, adding causing chaos and instability was becoming Washington's official policy line.

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