OP, I'm glad you posted a map of the area. It is important to review in order to understand what is going on.
I'm hoping to bring some insight here. I trained extensively in missile defense for Bahrain, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, etc. I am familiar with just about all of the Iranian military capabilities and I'll try my best to explain this map, and what is going on.
First and foremost, as you can see with this map, we've fulfilled a major objective over the past decade. Iran is entirely surrounded by our presence. What's not revealed is that Uzbekistan up north of this absolutely the catalyst to Western domination of oil distribution with the east. We have already secretly deployed troops here and established ourselves militarily to deploy from this location. In fact, after 9/11 the first country that Bush mentioned invading was Uzbekistan. They scrapped that idea, because it was too revealing of the intent.
The point is, there is no way China can build a pipeline 5,000 miles over the mountain ranges throughout this area, especially through Afghanistan. The only possible routes are through Uzbekistan or through Pakistan in order to get into major oil distribution networks. Since we have this entire area secured, we will start seeing oil pipelines traversing north from Pakistan, all the way through to Uzbekistan. Once this is complete, the entire East will be dependent on this network for oil demands. This is how the U.S. will establish their super-global power status. This agenda is detailed very well by Zbigniew Brzezinski in his book, "The Grand Chessboard". I encourage all Americans read this book or simply jump to Youtube and watch Michael Ruppert's overview of The Grand Chessboard.
Here is why Ron Paul is absolutely right.
First and foremost... aside from the Revolutionary Guards, Iran poses very little threat to the United States, or even Israel. They will not tell you this, because they are using psyops to propagate the Iranian nation as the enemy. Most Iranians, as a people, are anti-Israel but pro-American. It's a very odd conundrum. However, not to worry.. this entire area is probably the most well defended skies on the planet. Not one missile or aircraft will ever pass through these skies, unless deliberate... as I speculate this whole situation and keep thinking of potential false-flag means to initiate war. If we followed this train of logic throughout the world.. we'd need to be in 170+ countries with our military presence, in order to suppress any potential competing ideologies or threats to our demand for natural resources.
It's a shame I wish I were joking. We are already there and ultimately your proof as the American people what the agenda is.
This is why the discussion Ron Paul raised in the debate is extremely important. He raises the serious need for a voice in opposition of this agenda. We obviously see no one else willing to stand against it.
This is the conclusion... the only reason Iran is a threat, can be seen in the map above. Think about the 1953 overthrow and why it happened. It happened because they tried to nationalize the oil supply, against the British Empire.. and we infiltrated their nation and put in place the Sha. If they would have been successful, it would have allowed the East to have advantage in Eurasia.. in direct threat to U.S. dominance in the World. The threat raises due to the fact that our foreign policy is CENTRALIZED around the idea of controlling Eurasia natural resources. If we implement an oil distribution network in between the Middle East and the East... we dominate the world and can cripple not only the East (including Russia), but also Africa and ultimately Europe.
One world government anyone? Or should I say "Globalism".