OPINION — Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel that killed more than 1,400 Israelis and foreigners and injured thousands, with over 200 hostages, was aided by a complicit Iran that provided training, funding, and support to Hamas. Iran praised the terrorist attack on Israel and its Foreign Minister cautioned Israel to stop its attack on Gaza, warning the war might expand to other parts of the Middle East if Hezbollah joins the battle.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah, also a proxy of Iran, shares an 80-mile border with Israel and has over 100,000 fighters and tens of thousands of rockets and missiles that could be used against Israel.
Iran has established over fifty military bases in Syria, using Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Ground Forces, Quds Forces, and intelligence services – all to support the Bashar al-Assad regime and to ensure that Iran can project power beyond its borders. Israel shares a 40-mile border along the Golan Heights with Syria.
It’s obvious, Israel is surrounded by enemies all supported by a hostile Iran.
President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel was a vivid display of U.S. support as was the deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, followed by the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Strike Group, in addition to a heightened Air Force fighter presence in the region. This is in addition to the billions of dollars in military aid to Israel that President Biden is asking Congress to approve.
One year ago, in September, 2022, Iran was riveted by massive demonstrations protesting the death of Mahsa Amini after her arrest by Iran’s morality police. Countrywide demonstrations followed, led by women and girls, who were demanding long-denied freedom and equality, shouting the slogan, “Women, Life, Freedom”. There was some initial hope that these demonstrations, some that called for the “death to the dictator”, would have a broader impact, but the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, supported by loyalist mullahs, brooked no dissent, and brutally cracked down on the demonstrators, killing more than 500 people, with hundreds more wounded and imprisoned, and at least seven of them publicly executed.
This is the Iran that supports Hamas, Hezbollah and their proxies in Yemen, Syria, and Iraq. And it will be the Iran that will incite a regional war against Israel if Gaza is invaded with an ensuing protracted war, with massive civilian casualties and widespread destruction.
No doubt, Israel must respond to Hamas’s horrific terrorist attack and do what’s necessary to free the hostages and destroy Hamas’s leadership and fighters. That doesn’t preclude, however, seeking a dialogue with the Palestinian Authority that oversees the West Bank and being open to a path to Palestinian statehood, while expanding on the Abraham Accords – diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, and Kosovo – and seeking normal relations with Saudi Arabia, an issue that obviously concerns Iran.
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What’s obvious now, is that Iran has not been deterred from using proxies to attack Israel and fomenting unrest in the Middle East, with the goal of Iran becoming the regional hegemon. A continued robust presence of the U.S. is an imperative, as we’re witnessing now with Hamas’s (and by extension, Iran’s) terrorist attack on Israel.
Indeed, an emboldened Iran, according to journals Semafor and Iran International, conducted an extensive influence operation in the U.S., working through sympathetic scholars, analysts, and influencers for nearly a decade, to skew U.S. policy in favor of Iran.
China’s response to the Hamas terrorist attack was a general statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemning harm to civilians and stating that China is a “friend to both Israel and Palestine”.
China normalized relations with Iran in 1992 and is currently buying significant quantities of oil from Saudi Arabia and Iran, more than tripling its import of Iranian oil in the past two years. A war in the Middle East would negatively impact China and its dependence on Saudi and Iranian oil to fuel its industrial base.
And as witnessed in March this year, it was China that facilitated the normalization of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia. It’s clear that China has interests in the Middle East and wants to be a major player in the region.
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For these obvious reasons, the U.S., in its talks with Beijing, could and should encourage China to become more involved with Iran’s destabilizing behavior, especially with its support to Hamas and Hezbollah and its hostility to Israel and its recent terrorist attack on Israel that killed and wounded thousands of civilians.
This is a message that should resonate with the Chinese people, that Israel, a sovereign country is being attacked by terrorists supported by Iran. Hopefully, even Chinese President Xi Jinping will see the value in trying to moderate Iran’s behavior, given the impact this will have on China’s international credibility of dealing with a terrorist Iranian state.
The U.S. should also caution North Korea to refrain from providing weaponry – the F-7 rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder fired weapon used against armored vehicles – to Hamas, despite denials from Pyongyang.
Equally concerning is the reported weaponry that North Korea is providing to Russia, for its war in Ukraine. North Korea has a long record of selling rockets, missiles and weaponry to Iran, Libya, and Syria for needed cash to pay for their nuclear and missile programs. Resuming a dialogue with North Korea, to discuss these and other issues, should be a priority for the Biden Administration.
As President Biden noted in his address to the Nation: “American leadership is what holds the world together.” And that leadership requires credible integrated deterrence (diplomatic, economic, and military) throughout the world, especially now.
This piece by Cipher Brief Expert Ambassador Joe Detrani was first published in The Washington Times
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