The US is employing the same tactics as it used against Iraq to portray Iran’s nuclear program as the greatest threat to the peace and safety of the world. US propaganda has been echoed by Israel, which is deeply worried about Iran possessing nuclear weapons, though the Jewish state has more than 200 nuclear warheads as the US unwittingly admitted some time ago.
The American designs on Iran came to the fore after the International Atomic Energy Agency sent a letter to the US Congress protesting its circulation of some wrong and misleading information about Iran’s nuclear activities. The letter referred to a congressional report issued by the House intelligence committee on Aug. 23, 2006 warning that Iran posed a strategic threat to the US. The report was misleading based as it was on unfounded information.
The IAEA letter points out five erroneous statements in the congressional report on the Iranian nuke program. For one thing, the IAEA, says US Congress, deliberately downplayed Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
The letter signed by the director of IAEA’s foreign relations, Filmos Servini, strongly protested the claims such as the one saying the head of the IAEA Mohamed El-Baradei had removed Belgian official Chris Charlie because he violated the IAEA’s unwritten law against disclosing their findings, in this case, the secrets of the Iranian programs.
The war of words between Tehran and Washington is still continuing. Tehran has affirmed that the discussion about the enrichment of uranium is a closed chapter and no talks could be entertained on it.
Meanwhile, Israel has been talking about the Iranian issue as though it is speaking on behalf of the United Nations and the US. Israel declared that there is no option before the international community other than a military strike on the Iranian nuclear installations. According to an Israeli military expert, Tehran posed a great threat to the world peace and international system because it has the capability to use the oil as a weapon besides its nuclear weapons. Hence the US does not have any option but to counter the threat with all its might, according to the Israeli expert. He added that the US would undertake this operation while President George Bush was still in office.
Any economic sanction against Iran, however, would not have any serious impact on Iran. Military adventure against Iran also seems unpredictably risky because of various factors.
Iran has successfully tested various advanced weapons, particularly in the past months. They include laser-guided bombs weighing up to 900 kilograms and ballistic missiles that can hit both land and undersea targets. Iran has also developed fighter planes deadlier than the US-made F-18. Besides Iran has such a large weapon-manufacturing infrastructure that it exports weapons to 50 countries. All these factors suggest that US sanctions on Iran would have little or no impact.
Under these circumstances, the US will not go for an attack on the Iranian nuke facilities. The US has been embarrassed by the increasing international disapproval of the way it has been using its military force with scant regard for the civilian life and that too without producing the desired results. The US also has to consider the chaos a strike would produce in the Gulf region. The whole Gulf region would come under the range of Iranian fire, as it would target 150,000 US soldiers deployed in the Gulf and Iraq.
As the whole of Israel is within the range of Iran’s advanced weaponry, Israel would not dare take any military action against Iran. Israel knows very well that Iran is totally different from Iraq.
Israel destroyed Iraq’s sole nuclear reactor about a quarter of century ago without any retaliation from Iraq.
A former Israel national security advisor Giyora Ailand believes that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will not hesitate sacrificing half of the Iranian population to wipe Israel off the map of the Middle East. It is just the style of Ahmadinejad who knows that any strike against Israel would make him a hero not only in Iran but in the eyes of more than one billion Muslims the world over. Israel also knows well the potential of Iran’s manpower in resisting any military attack as was proved beyond doubt in the last Iraq-Iran war. Israel’s nuclear weapons are not a deterrent to the Iranians.
I believe that Iran has been countering successfully the US and European moves over its nuclear programs. It has also given Iran the confidence to stand up against any dictatorial US demands.
