Perhaps the biggest obstacle to the war between Israel and Iran is the loudmouthed declarations of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose language and concepts more resemble those of a street urchin who is chronically a truant from school, rather than the head of government of a belligerent nation. He has gone public with the claim that the war would end if Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed. In the face of this claim, Mr Metanyahu’s main sponsor, the USA, which poses as a peacemaker in the region, has a weird and wonderful take: President Donald Trump has said that Iran has passed up a wonderful opportunity, in not continuing the recent nuclear talks with the USA. Behind closed doors, Mr Trump is said to have vetoed the Israeli proposal to have eliminated Ayatollah Khamenei in the initial strike, but Mr Netanyahu’s statement shows that the idea is one dear to his heart.
Did Mr Trump seriously expect Iran to continue its talks with the USA with such a threat on the table? Both Mr Trump and Israel should remember that the current conflict has not led to a decisive engagement which would convince one of its ability to defeat the other, and the other side of its inability to win. The recent example of the Pak-India clash is an object lesson: India went running to the USA for a ceasefire because it had suffered massive losses during its Operation Sindoor, and during Pakistan’s Operation Bunyanum Marsoos. Pakistan agreed because, apart from not having started the conflict, it had taken the measure of its opponent, and found it advantageous to get out while it was ahead. Even the Ukraine-Russia conflict shows that the weaker side can achieve some signal successes, and therefore do not have enough incentive to reach a deal at truce talks.
The USA should realize that Israel is playing it for a fool. There is already talk of US B52 bombers being prepared for some mission in Iran. The USA is spiraling from being the peacemaker to being Israel’s catspaw. That is a reversal of roles which would make Israel the true superpower, able to use the USA’s resources to fight its wars. So far, Israel is succeeding, and it remains for the Muslim countries to convince the USA that their support of Iran is as firm as its own of Iran.
