WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS – WAR WITH IRAN

WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS –

WAR WITH IRAN

Stes de Necker

The drums of war against Iran are being beaten louder every day and the question is, when will the Trump administration strike Iran? The administration has been demonizing Iran as the greatest threat to Israel and the entire world.

The writing on the wall couldn’t be clearer. John Bolton, National Security Advisor to the White House, has asked the Pentagon some time ago to provide the White House with military options to strike Iran, generating concern at the Pentagon and State Department.

Bolton was a strong proponent of pulling out of the Obama administration-era deal in which Iran agreed to pause its nuclear weapons program in exchange for a reduction in sanctions.

Bolton has long believed a U.S. confrontation with Iran is both inevitable and desirable. In 2015, he authored a New York Times op-ed whose title, "To Stop Iran's Bomb, Bomb Iran," said it all. He has urged that "regime change" in Iran be made a declared goal of U.S. foreign policy.

Bolton furthermore has an ally in Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. In Cairo, few days ago, Pompeo declared it U.S. policy "to expel every last Iranian boot" from Syria.

Pompeo's sole purpose during his tour of the Middle East was to build a new Middle East Strategic Alliance, a MESA, an Arab NATO, whose members are to be Egypt, Jordan and the nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Pompeo has also called for a conclave in Poland in February to bring together an anti-Iran alliance to discuss what is to be done about what he calls "our common enemy."

It’s worth noting that no one knows if Bolton has advocated openly for a strike on Iran since entering the White House. He’s clearly had the chance, not only with the attacks in Iraq but also as Iran continues to operate in Syria.

Israel, though, regularly attacks Iranian targets in Syria — something Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted for the first time on Sunday 13 January 2019.

Asked last September (2019) about the attacks on American targets in Iraq, Pompeo said “Iran will be held accountable for those incidents.”

Pressed if he meant a military option, the secretary responded, “They’re going to be held accountable. ... If they’re responsible for the arming and training of these militias, we’re going to go to the source.”

If Trump is looking for a showdown with Iran that might boost his approval rating in the US, the time to do that is now. As the Robert Mueller winds down its Russia investigation and the Trump government shutdown and the FBI probe is nearing its end, such a showdown might just do for him what Operation Iraqi Freedom did for George W. Bush in 2003.

Now that John Bolton controls the NSC, an imminent confrontation with Iran is most likely.