The history books of the future will almost certainly look back on this time in much the same way as we do the 1920s and 1930s. How could Western nations have been so blind? Not to say utterly venal. Just as we today look aghast on Chamberlain and Daladier’s unforgiveable betrayal of Czechoslovakia, future historians will wonder how so many Western nations could so constantly undermine Israel as it did what the cowardly West, with all its power, was too chickenhearted to: prevent an fanatical Islamic regime from unleashing nuclear holocaust.
As The Good Oil’s Chris Trotter wrote, just why the Iranian regime wants nukes should not be under-estimated.
From its inception in 1979, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been committed irrevocably to the elimination of the ‘Zionist Entity’ […]
A simple review of Iranian foreign and military policy amply confirms that Israel has always been, and remains, the target. Why else would it be ringed by Iranian proxies: Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis? Who are the terrorists’ missiles aimed at, if not the ‘Zionist Entity’?
As Trotter points out, the standard calculus of Mutually Assured Destruction is pointless. The Iranian regime is, bluntly, a death cult. As journalist Elaine Sciolino, who accompanied the Ayatollah Khomeini on his return to Tehran was told by an Iranian soldier: ‘I dream of martyrdom’. Even should unleashing nuclear war on Israel bring Iran’s own destruction, well, that’s just another 90 million martyrs destined for paradise.
Say what you will about Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu, he is resolutely clear on that plain fact: Iran must never be allowed to possess nuclear weapons.
The alarmists are already penning their op-eds prophesying World War III. The BBC and most European media will doubtless portray Benjamin Netanyahu as a callous warmonger – as opposed to his nation’s Bismarck.
The professional Middle East experts will churn out the usual pabulum about avoiding a wider conflagration, despite the fact those experts almost all failed to foresee the beginning of that conflagration on October 7.
Ignore all of them.
After all, if there’s one thing we’ve learned over the last five years, it’s how utterly cluelessly wrong the ‘expert’ class too often is. Especially about Donald Trump.
If there’s one thing you can rely on the mainstream media to do, it’s to continually under-estimate President Trump, especially in his second term. That goes for both sides. At least the left media have the poor excuse of incurable Trump Derangement Syndrome, but the ‘normiecon’ conservative media should know better: they refuse to learn.
As I have argued elsewhere, Trump’s critics generally overlook that he is a pacifist at heart who prefers trade wars to real wars.
Hence, while clear that Iran must be stopped from developing nuclear weapons, Trump’s instinct is to try and strike a deal. A not unreasonable proposition, considering how badly weakened the Iranian regime is. Its proxies have suffered humiliating defeats, its economy is crippled by sanctions and its gateway to the only purchaser of its oil, China, was been crippled by a massive explosion at a regime-controlled facility.
Israel has no such luxury: its only choice is to act.
The casus belli was clear. According to comments by the Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation and Foreign Ministry after the publication of the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governor’s report on May 31, Iran planned to upgrade enrichment capacity at Fordow with more advanced IR-6 centrifuges and four new cascades. It also announced a new hardened enrichment site.
Iran’s response to the IAEA’s censure – the first in 20 years – demonstrated a well-thought-out path to nuclear weaponisation […]
Israel cannot live with a nuclear-armed Iran. Bibi has said so for years. He had to act.
Did he do so with Trump’s blessing?
One possibility is that Trump tried and failed to restrain the Israelis, who acted unilaterally in defiance of Washington. The other is that the recent weeks of negotiation with Tehran were a feint designed to create an element of surprise while at the same time allowing Trump to disclaim responsibility for the Israeli strikes.
Trump is playing both cards. “I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal,” he posted on his Truth Social platform. He characterised the Israeli strikes as a last-chance for the mullahs to avoid complete destruction. “Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire. No more death, no more destruction, JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.”
Which is all for show, of course. Hey, Trump can say, at least we tried. The mullahs chose death and destruction: so be it.
For now, however, those who have criticised the president for his erratic trade policy – myself included – must admit our misjudgment. The trade war has turned out to be a phony war. This is the real thing. And so far, at least, our side is winning.
No wonder the left are angry.
