Published: 1 October 2021
Last updated: 4 March 2024
BENNY MORRIS: An attack on Tehran would probably ignite an all-out Middle Eastern war – a frightening scenario, but so is the prospect of life in the shadow of a nuclear Iran
THE BOTTOM LINE is simple and clear: Either Israel, to the best of its ability, using missiles and bombs, destroys Iran’s nuclear installations, or it will have to live with a nuclear Iran in the years to come.
Unfortunately, those are the only options and there are no others. The United States, whose military capabilities are far greater than Israel’s, won’t do the work for us (or for itself or for the rest of the world). It didn’t do what was necessary in recent decades, not under Bill Clinton, George W. Bush (when there was a realistic possibility; instead it attacked the easier target, Iraq) or Barack Obama.
The United States didn’t do it under that loudmouth, President Donald Trump, and it certainly won’t do it under Joe Biden, who is surrounded by appeasing advisers like Robert Malley, the administration’s special envoy to Iran.
As for Biden, the certainty that he will not do what is necessary was reinforced by his shameful abandonment of Afghanistan and America’s Afghan helpers and their families (and, apparently, dozens of American citizens), an abandonment purportedly based on the excuse that a year earlier Trump had signed an agreement with the Taliban to pull out the troops and Biden was bound by it.
FULL STORY Israel’s two terrible options: live with a nuclear Iran – or bomb it (Haaretz)
RAVIV DRUCKER: Benjamin Netanyahu, the man who brought Iran to the nuclear threshold (Haaretz)
Iran says drills near Azerbaijan border due to ‘Zionist presence’ in area (Times of Israel)
Tehran dismisses Azerbaijan’s concerns and protests over surprise Iranian military manoeuvres near frontier, says it is a ‘question of sovereignty’
BARAK RAVID: Iran's advances spur debate in Israel on "nuclear ambiguity" policy (Axios)
Photo: A mock Shahab-3 missile next to a portrait of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran on Saturday (Atta Kenare/AFP)
