The New Nation - Internet Edition

Md. Masum Billah

Iran's nuclear project has further antagonized the USA-Israel combine. USA and Israel seek penal actions against Iran including a quick war. Israel has carried out an exercise that appears to have been a rehearsal for an attack on Iran's nuclear faculties. More than 100 Israeli fighter jets took part in maneuvers over the eastern Mediterranean in the first week of June. The Israeli Air Force held exercises at a distance of 1500 km from its shores. The Iranians have responded with test firings of the Shihab missiles which have similar range. Iran now possesses 6000 centrifuges, machines used to enrich uranium. Israel exercise is a message for Iran. Ehud Olmert warned Iran must be shown there will be devastating consequence if it develops such nuclear weapon. In 1981 Israeli jets bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak, 30km outside Baghdad. Israel said it believed the French-built plant was designed to make nuclear weapons that could be used against Israel .Israel is worried that a powerful Iran could be an additional strength for the Arabs which will disturb their peaceful sleeping which they do today at the cost of killing and massacring the Palestinians almost everyday.

But the world and US military experts must give due consideration to the fact that Iran dominates the whole length of Hormuz Straight. They can seal it hermetically with their missiles and artillery both land based and naval. It if happens, the price of oil will skyrocket----far beyond the 200 dollar per barrel that pessimists dread now. This will cause a chain of reaction--- world-wide depression, the collapse of whole industries and catastrophic rise in unemployment in USA, Europe and Japan. In order to avert this danger, the Americans would need to conquer parts o f Iran-perhaps the whole of this large country. But the US does not have at its deposal even a small part of the forces they would need. Particularly all their land forces are tied down in Iraq and Afghanistan. Amid rising speculation about the possibility of an Israeli or US bombing attack on Iranian nuclear facilities earlier this month, a major study produced for the US Air Force by top defense think-tank that US military action against Iran was likely to have negative effects for US.' A large number of Iranian strongly believe that Iran has the same right as other nations to develop nuclear energy including the construction of operation of nuclear enrichment facilities

"We will continue our cooperation with the agency in according to our legal obligations." But he questioned the right of IAEA to push Iran for answers on the weapons allegation which he described, "fabricated and forced'. " The agency is not a UN watchdog". In its last Iran report in May the IAEA said Iran might be withholding information on whether it tried to make nuclear arms. it also noted that Tehran continued to expand its uranium enrichment progress despite three sets of retaliatory UN Security Council sanctions.

President Ahmadinejad vowed that Iran would not yield in the crisis over its nuclear drive as world powers awaited a response from Tehran to a proposal aiming to end the standoff. He continued," The Iranian people are steadfast and will not step back an inch against the offensive power. The Iran nation does not value your threats. You are mistaken if you think you force this nation to back down with sanctions, threats and pressure." His defiant comments come after world powers warned Iran had only a fortnight to respond to their latest offer seeking to end a five year crisis that has raised fears of regional conflict and sent oil prices spiraling.

US took the unprecedented step of sending a top diplomat to meet Iran's chief negotiator Saeed Jalil in Geneva which ended in stalemate. "We hope the Iranians will provide a positive answer. But if they do not, the international community is united that more sanctions are coming."- National security spokesman of the USA Gordon Johndroe said. In respect of Iran's developing nuclear power USA is dead against it and mobilizing the world opinion and power against. It shows very active cooperation and helps develop the same in India. Which reason they can stand here? Pressurizing Iran is tantamount to hypocrisy in respect of using nuclear energy.

Turkey is a close allay of the USA and also a member of NATO. Washington has been tactfully using its Turkish connection to pressurize Iran not only to give up Uranium enrichment program but also to keep itself away from Kurds movement. USA supported the Turkish bombing of Kurdish location in Iraq which is under US occupation. What a tactful and subtle policy the US has taken to exercise domination over the Whole Middle East!" Kurdish Organization is PKK which is the enemy of Iraq, USA, Turkey,"------says Rice. Turkey gets involved in the nuclear issue because natural gas deals being on top. Turkey has economic cooperation with Iran. It in fact follows persuasion diplomacy toward Iran. Gregory Schulte, US ambassador to IAEA said in Ankara, "We don't want war with Iran. ." Ahmadinejad said, "The enemies are planning to dominate all countries through a long-term plan and do not want the regional countries including Iran, Iraq, Turkey to be powerful and live in peace." Actually this is the fact for which USA is so much active to freeze the Iranian Iran and Turkey have come to a close sort of understanding that the contentious could be addressed through cooperation not by continuous confrontation as Iran is now a regional power and it makes no sense to deny that.

The real US aim was to take possession of the Caspian Sea/Persian Gulf oil region and station a permanent US garrison at the centre. This aim was indeed achieved through the occupation of Iraq. The US are now thinking about their forces remaining in Iraq for 100 years and they are now busy engaging in dividing Iraq's huge oil reserve among the four or five giant US oil companies. Whereas the Iraqis everyday show their abhorrence towards the presence of occupied forces there. American generals don't want to seem the fact still. Rather they are planning to stay there for another 100 years. Moreover, they want to make Iran impotent in the region. But the Iranians are still adamant to develop their nuclear programme.

The supreme Iranian leader Ayatolla Ali Khameni pledged to continue the country's nuclear program. Senior Iranian officials depicted the support from a high-level conference of the Non -aligned movement as deflating claims by the US and its allies that most of the international community wanted Iran to stop enrichment.

The conference backing which echoes the group's previous declaration acts to 'remove this notion that the international community opposes the nuclear activities of Iran. F.M. Manouchr Mottaki.Ali Ashgar Soltaneiah, Iranian top representative to IAEA " The endorsement from 115 countries, present at Tehran Conference sends a strong positive signal that the only way is to negotiate and dialogue." The idea that any retreat or backing down from righteous position would change the politics of arrogant world powers is completely wrong and baseless. The horizon is bright for us and we know what we are doing and where we are going.-the way to reach that point is not to stand but to go."-Khameni. More than 100 non-aligned nations backed 'Iran's right to peaceful' use or nuclear power on July 29, an endorsement sought by Tehran in its standoff with the UN Security Council over its refusal to freeze uranium enrichment.

Garry Sack of Columbia University and an Iran expert who was interviewed after the July 19 meeting when he said, "Washington and Tehran were both showing an increased desire to end the showdown that has raised fears of a military conflict. Another change on both sides is Washington's willingness to look at opening and interests section in Iran-a first step toward restoring diplomatic ties cut three decades ago and Tehran's openness to the idea. The expert said that Washington had learned that its past desire to isolate Iran with increasingly stiff sanctions had failed to stop Iran enriching uranium -a key stage in efforts to make of nuclear bomb.

URI Avenry, an Israeli peace activist has rightly said commenting on the acrimonious situation between Israel and Iran " If the worst comes to the worst, we will have a 'balance of terror' between Israel and Iran, much like US-Soviet balance of terror that saved mankind from world war III or India and Pakistan balance of terror that provides a framework for a rapprochement between those two countries that hate each other guts"