May 11, 2018 – USA Takes a Hit
In the days leading up to when the American Embassy is expected to relocate to Jerusalem, tensions have continued to ratchet up in the Middle East.
President Trump’s announced decision on May 8, 2018 to withdraw from the nuclear agreement with the Iran pleased both Israel and Iran’s major rival, Saudi Arabia, but not Iran, obviously, or others.
On May 8, 2018 Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also released the following official response from Prime Minister Netanyahu.
“Israel fully supports President Trump’s bold decision today to reject the disastrous nuclear deal with the terrorist regime in Tehran… we said that rather than blocking Iran’s path to a bomb, the deal actually paved Iran’s path to an entire arsenal of nuclear bombs … Since the deal, we’ve seen Iran’s aggression grow every day- in Iraq, in Lebanon, in Yemen, in Gaza, and most of all, in Syria, where Iran is trying to establish military bases from which to attack Israel.”
Mere decades ago, Iran and Israel were on friendly terms; but no more. Iran, in conjunction with Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas, is not wavering in its stated goal to ultimately wipe Israel off the map.
Strife Builds
Two days later, on May 10th, the Times of Israel newspaper reported that,
“Some 20 rockets were fired at Israeli military bases by Iranian forces in southern Syria just after midnight on Thursday, with some of the incoming missiles being intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system, the army said, amid sky high tensions on the northern border.”
It was in retaliation for a recent Israeli attack. According to a CNN article posted on April 9, 2018, “Russia blames Israel for strikes on Syrian airbase”,
“The Syrian conflict has developed into a complex proxy war, which in recent years has included Israeli strikes on Iran-linked targets.”
To better understand the Israeli and Sunni Saudi viewpoint, read the New York Times August 27, 2017 article titled, “Iran Out to Remake Mideast With Arab Enforcer: Hezbollah.”
Russia considers itself an ally of Syria’s President Assad as well as a friend of Israel and so, for the most part, has been pretty restrained in its comments.
Reputations Inpacted
Prime Minister May, Chancellor Merkel and President Macron released this Joint statement following President Trump’s announcement.
“It is with regret and concern that we, the Leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom take note of President Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States of America from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.”
The TV program DW News on May 10, 2018 reported that, according to a new poll, these days Germans currently mistrust the USA more than Russia.
Fox News posted on May 1, 2018 that,
“The U.N. nuclear agency says it believes that Iran had a “coordinated” nuclear weapons program in place before 2003, but found “no credible indications” of such work after 2009.”
The three leaders of Europe agree with the UN and the International Atomic Energy Agency’s conclusions about Iran’s nuclear program rather than with America and Israel.
Photo Credits: Israeli Soldiers by Nayef Hashlamoun, License: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0; Hezbollah Flag by Paul Keller, License: CC BY-NC 2.0.
