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E-PAPER | NOVEMBER 04, 2024

Iran’s refusal to back down

Abbas Nasir | Published November 3, 2024 | Updated about 17 hours ago

The writer is a former editor of Dawn.

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THE deputy commander of Iran’s Islamic Rev­-

olutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Gen Ali Fadavi,

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has said his country’s “response to the Zionist

aggression is definite”, in remarks reported by the
New York Times, quoting Iranian media. This has
again upped the ante in the region.

The NYT report also quoted Gen Fadavi as saying “we have
never left an aggression unanswered in 40 years. We are
capable of destroying all that the Zionists possess with one
operation”, triggering fears of an all-out regional war.

These remarks were the first on-record reaction by Iran to

the missile attacks launched by Israeli warplanes last
Tuesday which, Israel claimed, caused significant damage
to the Iranian air defence missile batteries and sites mixing
fuel for its ballistic missiles.

Gen Fadavi was not alone in delivering the war­ning as the

head of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Kha­­menei’s office,
Ghulam Hussain Mohammadi Gol­payegani, reinforced the
general’s message and said “a fierce, tooth-breaking
response” will be de­­livered to retaliate for Israel’s
“desperate action”.

Iran had warned that it would

retaliate against US allies in
the region if they participated
in any way in a military strike
against Tehran.

Both these statements came after Ayatollah Kha­­menei was

given a detailed assessment by se­­nior military and IRGC
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commanders on the damage inflicted by the Israeli air-

launched missiles.

One noteworthy element of the Israeli warplanes’ missile

attack on Iran was that Saudi airspace wasn’t used and,
after Iraqi and Iranian air defence batteries were
apparently suppressed by electronic counter measures, as
they are called, the ballistic missiles were launched from
beyond Iranian airspace in all probability from over Iraq.

Israel has long enjoyed complete sway over Syrian airspace

save for the period of the war against the militant Islamic
State group when Russian S-400 batteries were deployed
along with their crews to curtail Israel’s air force activity in
support of IS over Syria.

Iran had warned that it would retaliate against US allies in

the region if they participated in any way in a military
strike against Tehran. That the airspace of Saudi Arabia
and Jordan was not used in the planning and execution of
the missile attacks took away the risk of that escalation. For
the time being at least.

Military experts are saying that the Iranian response might

also come via its assets based in Iraq so further escalation
is averted. However, with neither side appearing prepared
to back off, a wider war remains on the horizon.

Against this backdrop, the Israeli pogrom in Gaza

continues unabated, despite UN warnings of catastrophic
conditions in north Gaza and the need for emergency food
aid. It is clear Israel’s objective is to depopulate north Gaza.

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And its relentless bombing campaign in the rest of the strip

is killing dozens, even hundreds, of Palestinians including
women and children daily, amid calls to kick out Israel
from the UN.

The impunity with which Israel is attacking civilians in

Gaza and Lebanon (the south in particular) leads one to
believe that the unconditional political and material US,
UK and German support is not all that is enabling it to
carry on as if it’s business as usual.

Excerpts from American investigative journalist, Bob

Woodward’s latest book titled War make interesting
reading as they almost portray US Pre­sident Joe Biden as a
helpless angry leader who has zero influence over Israel’s
war criminal, Pri­me Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and
often uses profanities while talking to confidantes about
him.

But what appears inexplicable at least from the excerpts is

that when Biden calls Netanyahu a “b*****d” and uses even
fouler language about him with aides, why the US
continues to supply arms and armaments and station its
own aircraft carrier battle groups, long-range bombers and
air defence suppression planes in the region in support of
Netanyahu’s genocide policy.

The other alarming, even if not surprising, are the

Woodward disclosures about what leaders of Saudi Arabia,
the UAE and Jordan privately said to US Secretary of State
Antony Blinken in terms of tacitly supporting what’s
happening in Gaza.

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Egypt’s support was more than tacit, according to

Woodward, because apart from President Abdel Fattah el-
Sisi reiterating his commitment to the peace treaty with
Israel, its intelligence chief shared invaluable targeting
information with Blinken to pass on to the Israelis about
the Hamas tunnel network and how to draw out and
eliminate the group’s leaders.

If true, the remarks attributed to the de facto Saudi ruler

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salm­­an, the UAE President
Mohammed bin Zayed and Jordan’s King Abdullah are
bereft of empathy for the suffering of Palestinians and
amount to an endorsement of Israel’s military campaign.

The remarks appeared so outrageously pro-Israel that

some X handles started to dispute them as a deliberate ploy
to further divide Arab unity. But even these handles were
hard-pressed to list what the militarily/ economically
powerful Arab states have done to stay Netanyahu’s hand.

As one pro-Palestinian activist pointed out, South Africa

has taken more concrete steps for the cause of Palestine
than the entire Muslim world represented by the OIC. The
role of individual Arab/Muslim states who had the clout to
help has been no different.

Therefore, the Iran-led so-called Axis of Resis­tance seems

to have done more for the Palestinians and taken more
risks with their own security and well-being than some of
Palestine’s neighbours.

One wonders if this role has brought credibility to Iran’s

clergy-led government in the Arab street and washed away

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the sectarian label stuck to Iran after it helped crush the

Syrian resistance.

In the coming weeks, not only will the US presidential race

have been decided, but it would also become clear whether
Iran has retained enough military capacity to deliver its
promised response to Israel’s missile attacks. This will be
significant as Israel has claimed severely denuding Iran’s
missile launch capability.

The answer to these two questions may well determine

whether the Palestinian suffering and their genocide will
come to an end.

The writer is a former editor of Dawn.

[email protected]

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2024

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