Washington — The US has authorised a sweeping expansion of covert military operations in the Middle East and Africa, aimed at destroying terrorist networks in the region, and preparing the ground ahead of any presidential decision to attack Iran.

According yesterday’s The New York Times, a directive, called the Joint Unconventional Warfare Task Force Execute Order, was signed on 30 September by General David Petraeus, head of Central Command and in charge of US military operations in the Middle East, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa. Under its provisions, units of the Navy Seals, the Army’s Delta Force and other Special Forces will be able to operate both in friendly countries, and in hostile countries with which the US is not technically at war.

The main job of these clandestine operations, says the order, will be to “build networks” to “penetrate, disrupt, defeat or destroy” terrorist organisations, and to “prepare the environment” for future offensives by the US or local forces – a plain reference to Iran.