To the chagrin of hardliners in the USA, Iran, and Israel, the leading world powers and Iran have reached an agreement on a nuclear deal framework.
To the hardliners in the USA, a nuclear deal with Iran will dash their long cherished hope for an all-out “War in the Middle East” to hasten the climate for the realisation of the “end-times,” or apocalypse long prophesied, which will precede Jesus’s second coming to Earth. To them, Israel’s coming into being in 1948 was the fulfillment of a Biblical prophecy, as to the beginning of the “end-time” period.
They believe things like Hurricane Katrina was the wrath of God upon the evil people of New Orleans, and that God hid dinosaur bones in the earth just to confuse human beings.
According to these hardliners, in the guise of politicians or otherwise, the generation that would witness the re-establishment of Israel would also be the generation that would witness the Second Coming of Jesus, and the consequent establishment of His Millennial Reign on Earth from Israel. So, any deal that will push back the apocalypse is not to their liking.
To Iran’s hardliners, a tentative nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers is a bargain for the West and a disaster for Iran. To them, in this deal, Iran has exchanged its “ready-to-race horse with a broken bridle.”
They are chauvinists, apparently Shiite chauvinists, but in fact, it is the Persian chauvinism they nurture inherently, vis-a-vis the Arabs. The age-old rivalry between the Arabs and the Persians never ceased, even after both nations had embraced Islam. Though both of them are Muslims by faith, unfortunately, they belong to two different sects of Islam.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who signed the agreement, received a hero’s welcome upon his arrival back to Tehran from Lausanne (Switzerland). Thousands of people took to the streets to welcome him. To these people, nuclear bomb or not, they want a decent life for them and for their children.
They don’t want to be grinded any longer under the economic sanctions imposed on them by the West. The deal will lift only those economic sanctions imposed on Iran which are related to nuclear activities, not those which are related to development of ballistic missile by it. Still, as a part of sanctions goes, a great part of Iranians’ economic hardship will also go.
Israeli hardliners once wanted to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities to dust. It was US president Barack Obama’s stern (clandestine) warning that dissuaded them from such an adventure. It was reported in some news media that Saudi Arabia was willing to provide assistance to Israel in the way of allowing it to use the Saudi airbase to conduct air raids on Tehran’s nuclear facilities.
To what extent this news was true or mere propaganda, is difficult to ascertain.
In 1981, Israel air-raided and destroyed Iraq’s nuclear plant. After the signing of the framework deal between Iran and the P5+1 -- the US, UK, France, Russia, China, and Germany -- it is no more a feasible option for Israel to air-raid Iranian nuclear installations.
Not all Israelis are hardliners. A lot of them want to live in peace with their neighbours. Even some Jewish religious groups, like the Neturei Karta, oppose the State of Israel in the belief that Jews are forbidden to have their own state until the coming of the Jewish Messiah. According to the liberals of Israel, the agreement with Iran is “not a bad deal,” if not a good one.
It’s historical fact that Jews are grateful to Persians (Iranians). Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judah and deported the Jews to Babylon in between the years 597-582 BCE. After the fall of Babylon to the Persian king Cyrus the Great, in 539 BCE, Persians allowed the exiled Jews to return to the land of Judah.
The construction of a second temple in Jerusalem by Jews, which had a great impact on Jewish history and culture, began after their return from Babylonian captivity. During the eight-year war (1980-88) of attrition between Iran and Iraq, Israel indirectly supplied arms to Iran out of gratitude or possibly just to protract the war between its two foes.
The good news: Saudi Arabian King Salman told US President Barack Obama during a telephone conversation, that he hoped a final deal with Iran could be reached which would strengthen regional and global security.
Saudi Arabia and Israel, as well as Turkey (another regional power) are concerned over Iran’s ever-growing influence in the region. Some media reports say Saudi Arabia wants to buy nuclear bombs from Pakistan to counter Iran. With Iran unable to develop nuclear bombs, Saudis may abandon this option. The more nations put hands on nuclear bombs, the more volatile peace will be in the world.
By using Saudi airbases from which to launch any attack, Israel can avoid navigating through Iraqi airspace. One of Iran’s nuclear facilities is located close to 100 miles from the Saudi border, making the flight time from launch to arrival-on-target only a matter of minutes, too short a time period for detection/notification/response.
That said, an Israeli strike package will only be launched with a fighter escort and electronic counter-measure/battle-management capabilities. While US fighter pilots are the very best in the world, the IDF Air Force is nearly equal in capability and quality.
Both sides will lose pilots and airframes in any head-on confrontations. That’s something none of us should ever wish to see, but it has become quite clear that the wishes of the American people do not factor into this administration’s policies or goals and objectives.
By the way, Russia just signed a military cooperation agreement with Iran.
