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The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard issued a serious warning yesterday against Israeli efforts to foment war, saying “nothing will remain” of Israel if it successfully launched a military operation. General Mohammad Ali Jafari also threatened that in case of war, Iran would strike US military bases in the Gulf Arab region, close down the Straits of Hormus, a crucial oil route, and, withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Also on Sunday, the former US Ambassador to Israel, Martin Indyk, told CBS’s Face the Nation, “I’m afraid that 2013 is going to be a year in which we’re going to have a military confrontation with Iran.” Indyk based his statement on his assessment that Iran is very close to developing a nuclear weapon.

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been clashing in recent weeks over Netanyahu’s demands that Obama define what he calls a “red line” on action against Iran. An anonymous White House official told the New York Times that President Obama rejected Netanyahu’s appeal to establish specific guidelines for Iran’s nuclear program. The official also stated that the president would not agree on a specific action by Iran that could trigger an American military response.

And, Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney on Friday finished a week in the media glare with his criticism of President Obama for not meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a United Nations General Assembly later this month. Romney called Obama’s decision “extraordinary, confusing and troubling” at a New York fundraiser. The White House has come out and said no such meeting request between Obama and Netanyahu was either received or rejected.

Some have even claimed that Mitt Romney winning the US Presidency would enable swift action on Iran. Fox News opined “given the often-frosty relations between Netanyahu and the Obama Administration, decisive action by Israel could come quickly if Romney wins on November 6th.”

And, Reuters is reporting this morning, “[t]he United States and its allies have launched a major naval exercise in the Gulf that they say shows a global will to keep oil shipping lanes open as Israel and Iran trade threats of war.”

GUEST: Muhammad Sahimi, professor at the University of Southern California and lead political columnist for the website PBS/Frontline/Tehran Bureau