Iran and peace

In a Washington Times article, Brandon Williams of the National Nuclear Security Administration said that Iran was engaged in an attempt to develop nuclear weapons, though unlike the WWII-era Manhattan Project in the U.S. it was not secret and involved a slow process of reaching “threshold” status that fell just short of nuclear capability. The main purpose of the U.S.-Israel war against Iran is to destroy the Iranian nuclear threat. The assessment currently is that it arises from a militarized Iranian Shiite faction within the Islamist government, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The IRGC has hijacked the Western-backed nuclear energy program instituted by the Shah in 1957 in order to develop a weapons program.

The Iranian regime is spreading terror and violence in the Middle East and has increased its effort to spread its nihilistic philosophy to the American region. There are as yet unverified reports of 300 Shahed Iranian drones in Communist Cuba which are being investigated. That country is a natural ally: Iran’s 1979 constitution has Marxist elements. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who died in 1989, established the Quds Force to spread what the constitution called “ideological jihad” outside Iran’s borders.

An official of the Iranian regime bragged that Iran is even developing drones right now. A drone with a nuclear warhead could be unstoppable. (This is a problem with a potential Palestinian state in the West Bank; their possession of drones could significantly increase the threat potential against Israel).

Iran’s constitution envisaged a worldwide revolutionary movement to liberate the oppressed, based on their understanding of the Koran, which sees Muslims as a “single community.” Like the Chinese and former Soviet Communist parties, Khomeini attacked the “calculations of imperialism.” The results have been the same: hundreds of thousands of people murdered.

A similar ideology to these is gaining ground in the U.S. In New York, where Democratic Socialists, who rely on economic improvement for most of their support, also preach a global anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist ideology that appears to sympathize with Iranian proxies Hamas and Hezbollah. When they cry “free Palestine,” some see it as a subterfuge for destruction of Israel.

It was disturbing to see Democratic Socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier, the Democratic nominee for the House in New York’s 13th district, attend an anti-Israel rally Oct. 8, 2023 – a day after the Hamas assault on southern Israel, and the same day that Hezbollah in Lebanon, in concert with Hamas, opened an attack on Israel’s northern region.

Despite what the Democratic Socialists say, given Iran’s control of Hamas and, especially, Hezbollah, if Iran is not dealt with, the Palestinian situation seems unlikely to be solved. Iran is also attacking Sunni Arab states in the Gulf, as well as even Jordan. Their rationale for this is the American bases in these countries.

President Trump’s Board of Peace, set up to deal with the Palestinian situation in Gaza, has not been able to advance into the second phase because of the Iranian war.

At press time, Trump has reimposed a naval blockade on the Strait of Hormuz. It is important that the reportedly mediating Muslim nations of Pakistan, Turkey and Qatar convince their Iranian counterparts to step back and agree to American negotiation, with the purpose of ending Iran’s military nuclear development.

A reformist Iranian administration might be possible with current Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian. That could transform the dynamics in the Middle East, if it allowed the ideology of jihad to be set aside and focused on economic trade routes and uplifting the Abraham Accords. Sunni-Shiite peace could permit normalization of relations with Israel, and the settlement of the Palestinian question.

Turkey, Qatar and Egypt, as Muslim countries, were helpful in influencing Hamas in Gaza. Hamas disarmament is highly important. Morocco has already sent a few troops to Israel for the International Stabilization Force in Gaza. Indonesia is considering the same. With the Iran war over, reconstruction could begin in Gaza.

Peace builders will prevail.

MOSES MORDECAI TWERSKY of Providence has a master’s degree in American history from Providence College. His novel “Love Story in Greenwich Village: New York Iranian Adventure,” was published in January 2021 by Omniscriptum and is available from Amazon and other booksellers.