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Iran

Aug 16, 2024 Editorial

Kaieteur News – Iran’s national honor has been affronted more than once and its leaders are being asked to exercise restraint.  The UK and other Western countries, overwhelmingly allied with Israel, are the callers for restraint in the face of repeated provocations.  It is surprising that Israel’s allies can be both so one-sided and so shortsighted. A man spits contemptuously in the face of another and the scorned party is pushed to clean himself up and turn the other cheek.

It would have been much more helpful if the same bloc of newly concerned countries calling upon Iran to hold its retaliatory fire, had used their influence and muscle with Israel for it to respect the sovereignty of others.  We think of this and recall the United States in the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor that was labeled a day of infamy and cowardly among many other derogatory names. Was there any power on earth that could have held back the thirst for vengeance in spades that rippled then through the United States at every level?  This is where Iran stands currently, how wounded it feels for having been caught napping and made to look foolish before the whole world.

A retaliatory strike by the Iranians is not a matter of if but when.  Iran has the luxury of choice on its side: time and place to be decided by its political and military people for maximum effect. Possibly as a serious psychological deterrent against follow-up attacks by Israel in the future. The proportion of any Iranian response must be weighed carefully, and its leadership be wise enough to resist any tendency to overdo things by going for a big strike. Though there have been some gains in the court of world opinion, Israel still has a formidable shield providing cover for it. It is the sum of the Western media that has hedged and vacillated, and diluted and denied, the effects of some of the worst atrocities committed by the Israeli armed forces against an outgunned and outmaneuvered Palestinian people. It is imperative, therefore, that any Iranian response be measured and commensurate with the damage done to its national psyche. This is easy for outsiders, those not in the firing line, to say. What is sometimes forgotten is that the Middle East region is one that lived by an ancient code that glorifies revenge.  This has led to endless cycles of blood feuds and reciprocal vendettas that fester at both individual and national levels.

Worse yet, the Iranians have a built-in complex for martyrdom, which is a dangerous consideration in any circumstances.  An orientation towards blood curdling revenge and a readiness for martyrdom, at times, can impel throwing caution to the winds and letting loose with both barrels. This is not safe for the region, nor is it healthy for a tensely watching world.  A reasonable fear is that a spark in this Middle East tinder box possesses the character to ignite a wildfire beyond this always volatile rea. Whether from reckless misjudgment or the law of unintended consequences, the Iranian High Command must be most diligent not to be sucked into the traps baited by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjammin Netanyahu.  Netanyahu is feeling the squeeze internally and externally, has his back to the corner, and keeps raising the stakes in a precarious environment. Clearly, it would be in his interest if the Iranians were to fall for his snare by overreacting with a hammer blow, thus turning the tide of world opinion, at least muted Western positions, in his favor.  The result that Netanyahu seems to be taking huge risks for is that others are drawn into what started as an Israeli-Palestinian conflict and is closing in on a year.

Notwithstanding how much Iran seethes with fury, its decision makers must have the self-discipline to operate on their own timetable and with their own scales of response sensibly selected.  There is no question that Netanyahu would prefer the role of wounded victim by portraying Israel as the isolated underdog.  Indeed, Iran must exercise restraint, except that it is a kind that is different from what the world seeks.  Iranian restraint must be what buttresses its own image, slakes its passions.

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