ECONOMIC IDEAL – Tehran, Jan 3, IRNA – Iran newspaper in an article in its Sunday edition referring to the first martyrdom anniversary of Lieutenant-General Qassem Soleimani wrote that since last week there were the rocket attacks against Baghdad’s Green Zone and the flight of two US B52 planes over the Persian Gulf and a couple of other intriguing incidents, increasing the possibility of an Iran-US war and further increased regional tension.
Diako Hosseini, the manager of Presidential Office Center for International Strategic Studies wrote that the United States believes Iran is still after taking revenge for the assassination of its national hero and the time left till the end of President Donald Trump might be a good opportunity to prove that the maximum pressure exerted by his administration has not been all in vain, besides dictating Trump’s will to president-elect Joe Biden’s administration.
Yet, the Iranian political system believes Trump administration might even have more reasons as excuses for beginning a limited war against Iran.
One interpretation of the recent US moves is that Trump might support launching a new war against Iran, with weak hopes that relying on the president’s special authorities he will postpone the transfer of power in the White House, or at least deliver a burnt ground to Biden administration and take revenge of him for losing the elections.
This is a very rare possibility, because in addition to the legal obstacles in Trump’s way for implementing such an adventurist plan to delay transfer of power in the US, the heritage he will leave behind will also drastically decrease, and even make impossible both Trump and the other Republicans’ chance for victory also in 2024 elections.
Yet, there is a stronger possibility that war against Iran due to its deviation effect on US public opinion from the other major internal issues will not be supported by Trump, but other personalities in the White House, Pentagon and Secretary of State that have for many years pursued the maximum pressure policy against Iran as a high priority will also encourage Trump for a limited military attack against Iran, or even a proxy indirect military invasion.
The incentives for such a move will initially and in the first place be forwarding the Iran-US relations to a no-return antagonist point, and secondly finding a good pretext for attacking the Iraqi militia forces by Biden administration; besides such a move will deprive Biden from the chance to return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that he had promised to do, or at least delay it for a long time.
Extension of this time interval will provide the required time for JCPOA opponents, including Israel, sufficient enough to convince the Biden administration to change the president’s mind on return to JCPOA, or add tough conditions for its revival to make Iran’s return to it impossible.
Such people do not care much about Trump’s heritage, or the perspective for his return to the White House within four years, but rather prefer to accomplish the mission they have started instead of betting on a defeated president’s future chances that might even not exist. Therefore, achieving any of the abovementioned goals within less than the next three weeks’ time is their propriety.
All in all, none of those mean that the supporters of launching a military attack against Iran, even a limited one, have a simple and easy task to accomplish.
War against Iran on any pretext cannot begin without the issuance of an order by the US president, or gaining the US Congress approval and the high brass military commanders, who are better familiar with the difficulties and uncertainty on achieving rapid victory in such a war. But at any rate Iran cannot, and should not consider the threats of such adventurist and irresponsible US moves, no matter how little such a threat is.
We need to make certain not to get engaged in an unnecessary war with a government that is passing its last days, or if a defensive war will be essential to safeguard our vital interests, to make sure that the warmongers will not be able to fabricate lies to pretend that Iran was the beginner of this war.
The US administration has thus far received uninterruptable massages on Iran’s will to avid war and by pulling USS Nimitz super carrier from the Persian Gulf it seems as if influential figures in the United States, too, intends to decrease tension.
But so long as transfer of power in the White House has not taken place can dissuade the 3rd parties that are scare of the future US-Iran relations to end fabricating new pretexts for a US military attack. Until then, and till then end of this short purgatory period, a combination of self-restraint and alertness is now necessary, more than any other time in recent decades.
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