[Salon] War with Iran - Guest Post from The Verity Courier by Ron Estes

[Salon] War with Iran - Gmail The Verity Courier War with Iran By Ron Estes 7 April 2024 It strikes me that Israeli colonialism, and US lack of knowledge, are leading both nations up a ladder to war with Iran. Since the fall of the Shah of Iran in 1979, and his succession by Shia Ayatollah leadership, Iran and Israel have been in hostile confrontation for almost the entire 45 years. The Mullahs leading Iran represent the only Shia source of support for the Shia minority populations in the region: Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen. Also, ignoring religion, Iran became the only country in the region that has initiated a policy to support Palestinian resistance to the 57 year Israeli occupation of their territory, and the UN declared independent city of Jerusalem. Israel has branded all Palestinian violence initiated to achieve the liberation of its people to be international terrorism, and Iran the world’s leading sponsor of international terrorism. Israel ignores the fact that the Palestinian right to resist its occupation with violence is protected by international law. The 1979 mob attack on the US Embassy in Tehran, which then kept US Embassy personnel hostage for 440 days brought the US into the scene with Iran as a new, but now growing enemy. Again US provincialism took it's toll, forgetting that 45 years after the Pearl Harbor attack, which killed almost 3,000 American personnel, and inflicted grave destruction to the US Pacific fleet, Japan was the US closest ally in Asia. Iran need not have been an enemy. The Iran mob killed no-one and damaged no US property. US parochialism, and unfettered support for Israel, have led the United States to join Israel in the castigation of Iran as the world’s premier sponsor of international terrorism. US politicians, however, both in Congress and the White House fail the test when asked to identify international terrorist groups Iran supports. They copy the Israeli practice of naming Palestinian freedom fighters as terrorists. Iran has not attacked Israel and does not have a history of attacking its neighbors. Israel, however, has a record of assassinating prominent Iranians in Iran, and last week attacked the Iranian Embassy in Syria, killing 7 Iranian officials. Although long in coming, Iran has threatened to retaliate for the Israeli attack, and to attack the US because of its support for Israel, and the simmering revenge against the US it has harbored since the Trump Administration assassination of the leading Iranian military leader during his visit to Baghdad in 2020. An Iranian attack on a US target will, of course, trigger a US retaliation, and the war that US knowledge and common sense should avoid, will be with us. Once again, the road to this war proves that the US relationship with Israel adversely affects US strategic interests in the Middle East. Even though Iran is the only Shia Muslim nation in the world, all Muslim nations will be adversaries to some degree should the US fall victim of a Middle East war. US unrestrained support for Israel has created many hostile Muslims, particularly since the Trump Administration became the first nation to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, despite the fact that UNGA 181, the resolution under whose aegis Israel declared independence, declared Jerusalem an independent city. Since 1967, Israel has illegally occupied the city. The Trump declaration alienated 1.9 billion Muslims, and caused anti-American demonstrations throughout the world. Let’s pray US parochialism can somehow be dissipated before the first shot is fired at Iran. Ron Estes served 25 years as an Operations Officer in the CIA Clandestine Service.