By Ali Larijani – May 15, 2024
If you contrast the circumstances leading up to October 2023 with today, the direction in which the situation is changing becomes more prominent, and this is an important consideration.
I once met Mr. Kissinger in New York. He asked me, “If we want to establish a strategic relationship with you, are you ready for that?”
I responded: At the moment, we do not share any relations, and yet you are talking about establishing a strategic relationship? What do you mean by this question?
He said that: after the World War, we outlined the borders of the countries on the map ourselves, except for two: Iran and Egypt. You were already there with a bustling civilization, and you will continue to exist, but the rest of the borders were drawn by us. Therefore, we have no choice but to establish a relationship with these two countries.
Iran is presently in a very delicate position. It’s not just Iran, rather the situation in the entire region is critical.
In order to understand the recent events in Palestine, and what has happened since October, we have to take a step back from limited events and look at the situation from a broader perspective.
We have to look at the situation as an interconnected chain of events. We are on the cusp of a major regional transformation, and there are opportunities for Iran in this regard.
Let us remember the state “Israel” was in before Operation al-Aqsa Flood. This entity thought it had secured a solid position for itself and achieved sustainable security as a result of its sordid collusion with a number of countries in the region, not to mention the despicable regimes that lined up to normalize relations with this entity.
Moreover, this entity has carried out a number of terrorist attacks in Iran in order to prove that it is capable of attacking anywhere it chooses, and nothing can get in the way of it doing so. It appears that the West has also accepted this state of affairs.
After Operation al-Aqsa Flood, the Zionist entity’s mock stability became frail.
This was the reason why its leadership did not convene a meeting in the early hours of the operation. Instead, the US Army’s Central Command in Jordan stepped in and took charge; that was the degree to which Israeli morale had collapsed.
Afterward, you witnessed how Western officials flew to this entity as if they were rushing to an intimidated entity to dress its diplomatic wounds.
They initially thought they could eliminate Hamas in a few weeks, and they all cooperated to achieve that goal.
Recently, the US Senate approved $26 billion in aid to the Zionist entity, but over time, it became clear that Hamas’ operations unit persisted, and the entity scored no victories in this regard.
The sheer magnitude of the violence, despite widespread propaganda to cover it up, became indisputable, public opinion against the entity reached epic heights, and the university protests were a valuable addition to this pressure brought on by public opinion.
This wave of pressure frightened Israeli leaders. They feared that it would lead to the cessation of Western support because the emerging generation in the West opposes the policies of the Zionist entity.
This is revelatory of the nature of the Palestinian people’s resistance, as they remained steadfast despite all the crimes committed by “Israel”.
All the efforts to expel them proved unsuccessful, dealing another fatal blow to “Israel”.
In other words, there is a generation in Palestine that has sacrificed a great deal, from limbs to entire homes and families. This generation hates “Israel” even more, which is why some have proposed the two-state solution.
This was a plan that had already been proposed in the past, but “Israel” did not accept it initially. Now, the West has brought it up again.
The presence of resistance forces across the region is also another issue. These forces exist in the region as an undeniable reality and cannot be overlooked by the countries of the region.
Yemenis, for example, despite facing great economic challenges, dare to make a change, felling “paper alliances”, and standing against American and Israeli ships. The same applies to Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Resistance in Iraq.
Moreover, one cannot ignore the economic and political schism within “Israel”; the magnitude of the economic pressure on “Israel” has shown that the current situation is unsustainable. It was to overcome this impasse that “Israel” decided to attack the Iranian consulate.
The idea behind the attack was that Iran would either respond or would not. If not, then the Zionist entity would have regained the previous balance, and if Iran responded, the war would expand and Gaza would be forgotten.
The Israelis could not have predicted that the Iranian response could be both successful and manage to keep the war from expanding.
Iran acted quite correctly. In practice, it rendered “Israel” incapable of responding while again inflicting a great deal of damage against it.
Now, “Israel” is suffering an internal crisis, and has lost its credibility throughout the world.
Comparing the current situation with the past, we find that “Israel” cannot overcome the existential crisis it is currently enduring.
As such, a solution is now needed, and the West knows that this conundrum can only be resolved by regional countries. In parallel, it is unlikely that the countries of the region would be so out of touch that they would tie themselves to a lame donkey [a donkey in lion’s clothing; an Iranian proverb].
Therefore, I don’t think these Western proposals will ever see the light of day either.
Consequently, “Israel’s” decline, encompassing both internal and external dimensions, is central to the future transformation of the region.
If you contrast the circumstances leading up to October 2023 with today, the direction in which the situation is changing becomes more prominent, and this is an important consideration.
As such, we see that there is a method to Iran’s security conduct, as Iran and its authorities have maintained order in the country and also preserved national security.
This presents an opportunity to safeguard this situation, and it must be made sustainable.
