Al Jazeera Analysis April 15, 2024: (Scroll down that page 2/3)
… Stephen Zunes, a professor of politics and international studies at the University of San Francisco, said the US is trying to “calm things” in the Middle East following Iran’s retaliatory attacks against Israel. While the US has “allowed Israel to engage in some pretty horrific war crimes against the Palestinians”, expanding to an international conflict of this magnitude, especially against a relatively powerful opponent like Iran is something the US will try and prevent, he said.
For the Israelis, however, there are more “hawkish elements” at play, he said. This includes Netanyahu looking to have the international community focus on Israel versus Iran, where he can garner more sympathy compared with Israel versus the Palestinians. The Iranian regime, at this point, can gain politically by not escalating, Zunes added. Israel’s actions in the war on Gaza, with US support, have alienated many non-Western nations and made them less likely to normalise relations with Israel, he said….
Category: Iran
Russian aggression, US hypocrisy and is UAE a safe haven for oligarchs?
The Progressive, March 1, 2022: There’s No Justification for Russia’s Aggression, But U.S. Double Standards on Illegal War Are Hard to Stomach: Nothing can excuse Putin’s invasion, but the hypocrisy could hardly be more striking.
Al Jazeera quotes Zunes March 7, 14 and 29
*The limits of Iran’s influence on Yemen’s Houthi rebels
*Analysis: Can the UAE be a safe haven for Russian oligarchs?
*Can Russia return to the world stage as other aggressors have?
Find more at Western-Sahara.org.
Interview: Today’s US-Iran Crisis Is Rooted in the Decision to Invade Iraq
Truthout January 20, 2020. Listen at ScottHorton.org.
The ramifications of the illegal, unnecessary and predictably tragic U.S. decision to invade Iraq are still with us. This includes the ongoing crisis with Iran, which brought us perilously close to all-out war in early January, resulted in the tragic downing of a civilian airliner and remains in a hair-trigger situation..
Interview: Proof that Soleimani killed hundreds of Americans is “groundless”
There Is Zero Actual Evidence Iran Is Responsible for Killing Hundreds of Americans
TheProgressive.org, January 7, 2020 & Republished by:
CommonDreams.org, RadioFree.org, and GVWire.com (Fresno).
Trump’s Threats towards Iran Aren’t Working. Here’s Why.
The Progressive, July 17, 2019: The Trump Administration has imposed sanctions against more than 1,000 Iranian entities… But recently it reversed course, backing off its threat to sanction a top Iranian diplomat in response to concerns it would foreclose any diplomatic recourse…
Also Dr. Zunes’ interview July 22, 2019 on KBOO
US Conflict with Iran: an anti-imperialist analysis
The Threat of War with Iran
The Progressive, May 15, 2019: The White House has ordered an aircraft carrier strike group off the coast of Iran and a fleet of bombers have flown to U.S. air bases near that country, while preliminary plans are apparently underway to send 120,000 U.S. troops to the region…
Trump’s Controversial Decision on Iran’s Revolutionary Guards
The Progressive, April 10, 2019: There is little question that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is bad news. Some of its units have engaged in severe repression of nonviolent dissidents, supported Assad’s brutal counter-insurgency operations in Syria, backed hardline Islamist militia in several foreign countries, and more…
Pompeo’s Iran Speech a Prelude to War?
The Progressive, May 23, 2018: The U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s speech targeting Iran may have created a new benchmark for hypocritical, arrogant, and entitled demands by the U.S. on foreign governments…
Trump’s Dangerous Abrogation of the Iran Deal
The Progressive, May 9, 2018: Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action—the landmark nuclear agreement between Iran and the UK, France, Germany, Russia, China, and the U.S.—strikes a dangerous blow against arms control and international security and more firmly establishes the U.S. as a rogue nation.
Republicans, Democrats alike still level threats at Iran
National Catholic Reporter, August 15, 2016
(Also in the Huffington Post and Common Dreams)
The 2015 Iran nuclear deal should have curbed the longstanding bellicose rhetoric coming from Republican and Democratic political leaders toward the Muslim country. Signed by Iran, the U.S. and five other nations and ratified by the UN Security Council, the comprehensive agreement strictly limits Iran’s nuclear capabilities and subjects Iran to the most rigorous inspection regime in history. The result has been dramatically reduced regional tensions and the elimination of any potential threat to U.S. national security.
Hardliners on All Sides Undermining Iran’s Nuclear Talks
Netanyahu Still Swaying U.S. Congress
The Progressive, March 4, 2015: Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu’s speech before a joint session of Congress on March 3 was rare and unprecedented in many ways.
• It constituted a major breach of protocol
• It took place just two weeks prior to national elections in the foreign leader’s home country
• Most strikingly, Netanyahu is the only foreign leader to have been invited to address a joint session of Congress with the express purpose of undermining U.S. foreign policy…
China Radio International – Iran Nuclear Negotiations Resume (Audio)
[The source link and recording for this item are
no longer available. Find best related links.]
Congress vs. Obama on Iran: Washington’s Warmongers Take Aim At Iran Diplomacy
Foreign Policy In Focus, “Z” and Alternet
Hardliners in Tehran are not happy with the recent rapprochement between the United States and Iran and the related progress in negotiations to address Western concerns about the Iranian nuclear program. But the bigger threat may come from hardliners in the Washington, including prominent Democrats. [See the FPIF LINK, or Alternet, and the follow-up op-ed, Congress seeks to undermine Obama’s rapprochement with Iran in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, Nov. 15, 2013.]
Restless Nation: The Real Meaning of Iran’s Elections
[YES!, Transcend.org and Transnational.org Blog, August 13, 2013]
Iran inaugurated its new president, Hassan Rouhani—clearly the most moderate candidate in the running. This outcome illustrates the growing desire for change among the people of Iran. The situation resembles Eastern Europe in the 1970s: The people are not yet at a point where they can bring down the regime, but the ideological hegemony that kept the system intact is gone.
US policy weakens Iran’s pro-democracy movement
[Santa Cruz Sentinel & Transnational.org, Also National Catholic Reporter,
May 31, 2013, updated Sept. 11, 2018
While there are contending factions vying for the country’s relatively weak presidency, the narrow ideological spectrum within which candidates are allowed to run offers little hope for change.
The Rift Between the U.S. and Israeli Governments Regarding Iran (video)
Source is no longer available online. See related links.
Interview: Arab Revolutions, U.S. Middle East Policy, Iran, and Israel-Palestine (audio)
KPFT Pacifica: Arab Voices Radio July 11, 2012
Dr. Stephen Zunes’ segment begins at 14 minutes.
Congress Pushes for War with Iran
Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies June 13, 2012.
Republished by National Catholic Reporter & ZNetwork
In another resolution apparently designed to prepare for war against Iran, the U.S. House of Representatives, in an overwhelmingly bipartisan 401–11 vote, has passed a resolution (HR 568) urging the president to oppose any policy toward Iran “that would rely on containment as an option in response to the Iranian nuclear threat…” Indeed, the rush to pass this bill appears to have been designed to undermine the ongoing international negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program…