All Global Research articles can be read in 51 languages by activating the Translate Website button below the author’s name (only available in desktop version).
To receive Global Research’s Daily Newsletter (selected articles), click here.
Click the share button above to email/forward this article to your friends and colleagues. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to our Telegram Channel. Feel free to repost and share widely Global Research articles.
Global Research Referral Drive: Our Readers Are Our Lifeline
***
Israel’s Minister of War, Yoav Gallant, told his troops the Iranian attack was not successful; that of about hundred drones and rockets, Israel downed them all but four, thanks to their good preparation. This is a lie on many levels.
Both Netanyahu and Gallant expressed their determination to retaliate after a well thought-out plan. Netanyahu qualified, it needs to be a “clever response”.
Likewise, army chief Herzi Halevi is crystal clear in his attempt at launching a response for Iran’s retaliatory attack on Israel, but he does not want to cause a war.
The Israeli Cabinet is also “mulling” over what they call a “political offensive” – whatever that may mean.
Interesting is that both sides, Israel and Iran, do not seem to want war, or better a HOT WAR, where saber-rattling could surreptitiously convert into a mushroom cloud. They know when NATO gets involved, Russia and China may get involved – and then the sky is open and Armageddon is on the table, or rather all over Mother Earth.
If indeed, Israel goes ahead with such a counter-attack, however benign or non-benign it may be, it is like giving Biden the finger because, according to the latest news, Biden backtracked from his earlier limitless commitment to support Israel and to always fight for Israel’s security. Biden’s “back-stoppers“ must have told him otherwise: “America is not going to war with Iran for Israel.” Israel – you are on your own, so to speak.
That was a smart decision. Will they stick to it? The US is divided. There are the Zionists, who so far have called the shots in Washington and the Pentagon. But the balance is gradually shifting in favor of the more level-headed thinkers, those who do not want to risk WWIII which could become nuclear – and global.
Similar messages of “caution” seem to emanate from British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, a strong supporter of Zionism. He called Benjamin Netanyahu, suggesting prudence in any further action he may take. An escalation that could spin out of control is in nobody’s interest.
Nevertheless, PM Sunak assured Netanyahu of UK’s support to “guarantee Israel’s security”.
If this sounds like a game of words, probably it is a game of words. Maybe hiding a surprise – and perhaps during the days of “thinking about prudence” — something much bigger may be under preparation. Knowing the Israel-Zionist’s own supremacy concept, they will not let the Iranian attack, even if well justified, go unanswered.
Just to refresh memories, because they are systematically wiped out by the bought mainstream media: Iran launched a measured, but well calculated retaliatory attack on Israeli military targets in the early hours of 14th April. The drone and ICBM missile assault of some 300 projectiles was a response for Israel’s unprovoked attack of 1st April on Iran’s Consulate in Damascus, leaving seven people dead, including two high-ranking Iranian military officers.
By the multitude of rockets Iran fired on Israel in sequence, first the drones then the missiles, Iran suppressed Israel’s and their allies air defense system that concentrated on intercepting drones and was unable to intercept the subsequently launched hypersonic missiles.
Tehran having entered a new stage of political and military stature beyond the Middle Eastern boundaries, had to react to Israel’s Damascus provocation of 1st April, in terms of a clear message, “Don’t mess with Iran – or else”.
Iran, now militarily speaking, one of the three key members of the newly ten BRICS nations, must assure the West that sanctions and threats and random unprovoked attacks will not cut it anymore.
The 14th April attack by Iran was not just a retaliatory strike, but has established a new order, depriving Israel of her absolute impunity, which until recently had been guaranteed by the US.
Important to note is that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Commander-in-Chief Hossein Salami said that from now on, if Israel attacks the interests of Iran and Iranian citizens, Tehran will strike it again (RT News – 16 April 2024).
This means that if Israel now hits back, Iran will not just swallow whatever Israel does to harm Iran. And there is the danger – a real risk of escalation out of control.
One might ask, was this “out-of-control” situation planned and prepared by the Zionist-dominated West?
Let us not forget, whatever Zionist-Israel does in pursuit of her ultimate goal, the establishment of Greater Israel, is to control the Middle East’s inexhaustible energy resources.
Achieving Greater Israel depends very much on Israel conquering Iran, not only because Iran is literally in “command” of the oil and gas rich Middle East, but also a Greater Israel needs control over the Strait of Hormuz, now controlled by Iran.
Currently about 30% or more of the world’s total oil and gas consumption is shipped through the Strait of Hormuz. See this.
With a Greater Israel, the bulk of Middle Eastern hydrocarbons would be under Zionist-Israeli control and with the Strait of Hormuz under Israeli control, shipments of the energy resources, how much and to whom, would be under Zionist command.
Not to forget, Zionist-Israel is already in the process of appropriating the enormous gas reserves off-shore of Gaza – conservatively estimated already some 20 years ago at about a trillion cubic-feet, worth between two and three billion dollars, depending on the market price. And as we know, he, who controls the resource, decides its “market” price.
An updated assessment of the Gaza off-shore reserves may be exponentially higher. Of course, kept secret, given the current war and expropriation scenario by Zionist-Israel.
The huge port that is rumored to be planned just outside Gaza – maybe construction has already begun — has little to do with food delivery to Gaza (certainly not), or “exporting” the remaining Gazans to unknown destinations.
Much more likely will this be the port for handling the Gaza off-shore hydrocarbons through a yet to be built (but planned since 1971) Ben-Gurion Canal, all the way to the Red Sea. The new canal would probably bankrupt the Suez Canal, a possession of Egypt, an Arab state.
The Suez Canal is already suffering due to lack of transshipments of at least 20 European countries, who are afraid the Yemeni-Houthi attacks on US- and Israeli-controlled merchandise vessels could also target their ships.
This Big Picture speaks for Israel not letting go. From their point of view, they MUST conquer Iran. The Zionists may be so blinded by their delusion of “grandeur”, that they may not see the Mushroom Cloud that may wipe them out along with much of the rest of the world.
The reality is that Iran is no longer alone. Iran wants to make sure that their power and presence is accounted for by Israel, the US, its European vassals, and the West-at-large, because they are now a member of the new BRICS which is not just an economic association.
Their membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) – a strategic and economic China-Russia initiative, protects them from outside attacks, the same way NATO members are protected. (Collective Defense Doctrine under Art, 5)
Attack One BRICS state, you attack them all.
Retaliation in the case of an attack on Iran can come from all or selected members of the ten BRICS countries, especially from Russia and China; which would pretty much mean WWIII.
This may be the reason for Iran’s relatively benign retaliation against Israel. It was a warning.
Iran does not want war. They may follow the Tao philosophy, as expressed by Sun Tzu in ancient times,
“To fight 100 battles and win 100 battles is not the height of skill. The best way to win is not to fight at all.”
This is Iran’s strategy. Its strike against Israel was not so much a military response as a grandmaster’s move in a big chess game. And the game is not over yet (RT News, 16 April 2024).
May President Putin’s words resonate and be taken seriously, “I hope WWIII can be avoided”; meaning that an Israeli assault on Iran would not remain unanswered by Russia, which would bring in NATO and WWIII could explode overnight.
*
Note to readers: Please click the share button above. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to our Telegram Channel. Feel free to repost and share widely Global Research articles.
Peter Koenig is a geopolitical analyst and a former Senior Economist at the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), where he worked for over 30 years around the world. He is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed; and co-author of Cynthia McKinney’s book “When China Sneezes: From the Coronavirus Lockdown to the Global Politico-Economic Crisis” (Clarity Press – November 1, 2020).
Peter is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG). He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow of the Chongyang Institute of Renmin University, Beijing.
Featured image source
