HASSAN TAHSIN Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeated Israeli demands even after the latest round of talks between Iran and the world powers on Tehran's nuclear program ended in Moscow two weeks ago without any clear breakthrough. The three Israeli demands are the following: Stop enriching uranium inside Iran, remove all the enriched uranium from Iran and dismantle the underground Fordo nuclear facility near Qom. By simple logic, as well as by international customs and laws, these demands can be seen as an interference in the internal affairs of Iran. Netanyahu continued, saying: “I believe that we should be doing two things now: Boosting the sanctions and also boosting the demands.” He said this without indicating if there was any possibility of Israeli military action in the event of the absence of a breakthrough at the end of the ongoing diplomatic initiatives. After meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the latter's recent visit to Israel, Netanyahu said: “We agreed that Iran's continued pursuit of nuclear weapons is a grave threat first and foremost to Israel, but also to the region and to the world.” There is no doubt that this short statement indicated very clearly that it is imperative to launch a military attack against Iran and destroy its nuclear program completely in case the efforts to find a peaceful resolution of the issue end in failure. He also allowed himself to speak on behalf of Russia and the rest of the world. To this, the reaction of the Russian president was strong and emphatic. The prominent Israeli newspaper Yedi'ot Aharonot published a report about it. Putin warned Israel that attacking Iran could backfire. “Look at what happened to the Americans in Afghanistan and in Iraq. I told Obama the same thing. There is no need to do things too quickly; one should not act without thinking first.” Recalling the American objective of ending the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and eliminating the terrorist infrastructure in the country, Putin noted: “Iraq has a pro-Iranian regime after everything that has happened there. These things should be thought out ahead of time before doing something one will regret later.” If we look back to recent developments, we can see that a simple statement that was made by the then US ambassador in Baghdad in response to a query from the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, who was not shrewd in terms of diplomacy, resulted in the second Gulf war that affected all the Gulf states in the social, security and financial spheres. It helped the West reap benefits by triggering rearmament and by allowing technologically outdated weapons to be sold as high tech military arms. American and other Western companies earned profits by grabbing a major chunk of the reconstruction projects in the war-ravaged country. The US seized the opportunity by claiming falsely that Saddam had nuclear weapons. On the other hand, it was said that the invasion was for oil at a time when Iraq's oil export was mainly to America. The truth is that Israel poses a major threat to the Arab region. Israel's constant pressure on Washington may lead to an erroneous decision regarding Iran and that could result in frightful destruction. If Washington was ever persuaded to attack Iran in order to please Israel that would mean an all-out war, and such a war would spill over to major countries in the region. Do you imagine that Israel, with the support of the US Fifth Fleet, could strike Iran's nuclear facilities without Tehran retaliating? Iran possesses tens of thousands of missiles of various types and distances, and the Patriot anti-missile system may not prevent them from hitting US bases in the region. Likewise, it would also be certain that navigation through the Strait of Hormuz would be halted completely, and that the US Navy would not be able to clear the mines, as it did in Basra. I think that the Russian warning did not come out of the blue, and that Moscow felt or has ascertained that there are plans to strike Iran. Russia is still an important country with a variety of sources with access to political secrets. The people of Arab countries want the world to agree with Iran to resolve the issue peacefully so that peace may prevail in the region and spur its economic growth. Now, the entire world realizes the meaning of peace and its requirements. Will Israel and the United States realize its true meaning or will they continue to rely on their belief in the use of force? – Hassan Tahsin is an Egyptian writer and political analyst. He can be reached at [email protected]
