US President Joe Biden has called on Israel to show restraint in its response to Iran. At the same time, leaders of the USA, Britain, France, Germany, and other NATO powers have been unrestrained in their condemnation of Iran for the action it has taken in defence of its sovereignty. These same powers not only kept completely silent when Israel attacked the Iranian Embassy in Syria, but have also been justifying the genocidal slaughter of people in Gaza. They have justified the attacks on Palestinians in the occupied territories of the West Bank, and the repeated missile attacks on Syria and Lebanon under the slogan of Israel’s “right to defense”.
In an article in the Wall Street Journal on April 17, Biden wrote “Israel is our strongest partner in the Middle East; it’s unthinkable that we would stand by if its defenses were weakened and Iran was able to carry out the destruction it intended this weekend.” The US Congress has now approved of a massive 26 billion dollar additional military aid to Israel in the name of “security assistance”.
The call for restraint being given by the US President must be seen in this light. Far from restraining Israel in its attacks on Iran and other countries of West Asia, the US has been using Israel as its loaded pistol in West Asia, pointed at the Palestinian, Iranian and other peoples of the region.
Over decades, US imperialism and its allies have defended Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian lands while spreading the false narrative that Israel is a victim. They have presented Israel as a state whose existence is allegedly threatened by the Palestinian and other Arab peoples. The truth is that it is the US, working closely with Israel, which has been threatening the sovereignty of all the countries and peoples of the region. In particular, ever since the Iranian revolution overthrew the pro-US regime of Shah Reza Pahlavi, US imperialism has left no stone unturned to weaken and destroy Iran and reestablish its domination over that country.
The US sees Iran as the main roadblock to establishing its complete domination over West Asia. It has coordinated with its European allies to impose harsh economic sanctions on Iran, in an attempt to bring it to its knees. Alongside, it has been planning in close coordination with Israel and Britain, for a military invasion of Iran.
The US and Israel have separately and together organised numerous terrorist attacks on Iran. All the terrorist activities of Israel are closely coordinated with the US. This includes the assassination of leading nuclear scientists and top commanders of the Iranian armed forces. It includes terrorist bomb blasts which have taken the lives of hundreds of people. On 19 April, Israel launched a drone attack on a military base in Isphahan in Iran, which was successfully foiled. According to news reports, the US acknowledged that it had prior information about this strike. There is every reason to believe that the terrorist missile strike on the Iranian Embassy was carried out by Israel with the knowledge and approval of the US.
The armed forces of the US and Israel are closely integrated. The US and Israel have an integrated air defense system. The X-band radar air defense system set up by the US in Israel in 2009 integrated Israel’s missile defenses with the U.S. global missile detection network, which includes satellites, Aegis ships on the Mediterranean, Persian Gulf and Red Sea, and land-based Patriot radars and interceptors. In 2017, a US air defense base located in the Negev desert was inaugurated.
The situation developing in West Asia is dangerous for the peoples. The US is using Israel to provoke Iran. Taken together with the support provided by the US and its allies to Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinian people, it cannot be ruled out that the US is preparing to expand the theater of war in West Asia to embroil Iran.
People and countries of the region need to exercise great vigilance, and thwart the war mongering plans of the US and Israel.