Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to trap the west into a total war across the Middle East that would have incalculable consequences for the region and the world, Iran’s top diplomat in the UK has claimed, in his first interview since Tehran launched an unprecedented missile and drone attack against Israel at the weekend.
Seyed Mehdi Hosseini Matin also warned that if Israel made “another mistake” by launching an attack on Iran, there would be a response from Iran that was stronger, more severe, and administered without a warning like that issued before the weekend attack.
The salvo of more than 300 drones and missiles – almost all of which were intercepted by Israel and its allies or fell short of their targets – came in retaliation for a 1 April airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, that killed several Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards officers. Israel’s top general, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, has said the country would respond, but it remains unclear what form that would take.
Normally, I’m the first to call out Iran on bullshit, but, uh, they ain’t wrong here.
Except this is totally wrong. Israel is doing it out of self interest, not some weird conspiracy to drag the west into something. They want to gain power for themselves, just as Iran, the US, and every other country wants to do. There is zero reason to think it’s more than that. Bibi needs a distraction, and that’s what all of this is.
It’s not a weird conspiracy though. It’s just that dragging the US into protecting Israel from Iran has the effect of halting US criticism of the Gaza genocide.
Or maybe Iran is making a play by saying something to enflame Americans? I don’t know why anyone would listen to Iran suddenly. Sure, they’re against Israel, which is the popular stance here right now (for good reason), but they don’t care to be accurate. They say something because it’s useful.
I wasn’t on Lemmy then, but I’d be curious to see what Lemmy would have been like during the Iranian protests that I think we’re last year. I’m sure they’d be saying Iran is lying about everything then and only saying what’s useful. I don’t know why anyone would trust a word they say now.
Anything with power is always lying. Consider what purpose saying it has. Even if it’s true, they’re saying it to manipulate. The actual implied intent is a lie.
I mean, yes. Iran is unironically very talented at manipulating regional politics to their favor. You don’t have one of the best systems of proxies and catpaws in the region without knowing shit like that.
Iran’s international competence isn’t generally the problem - but whether to trust what they say. Usually, the answer is “No, you shouldn’t trust anything out of their mouth”, but in this case, it’s a “The sky is blue” moment.
This has been Israel’s aim for its entire existence. It’s no mere coincidence that any country that could potentially stand up to it has been invaded or otherwise regime changed (Iraq, Libya, Syria, etc) or paid off (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, etc, but likely only to hold them off because their turn will come later). Iran is a major item on the hit list.
While Netanyahu would love to draw all of NATO into a giant Middle Eastern conflict, I think he knows that goal isn’t realistic. What he’s likely aiming to accomplish is to destroy as much of Iran’s nuclear program as possible. That’s been his goal for over a decade.
I find it interesting that they said there’d be a larger response if Israel retaliated 2 days ago, but now they’re saying there will be no response to Israel’s retaliatory strike.
Probably just an effort to discourage escalation. They don’t have diplomatic relations so they’re always signalling through military and public statements. Iran doesn’t want a direct war with Israel and wants to go back to the shadow war they’ve been fighting for decades. They’ve been sabre-rattling militarily and pressuring restraint diplomatically since their attack. They’re obviously not going to say “attacking us in a limited way is totally cool,” but I think the takeaway is basically “we won’t escalate if you won’t.”
By “the west” I assume this means the US and Germany because at this point do any other countries even really support Israel?
Isn’t that enough!? OK, I suspect there are other governments out there that will fall on the side of Israel should push comes to shove. I strongly suspect the UK will also support Israel when it comes to it.
