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From The Fields

Middle East Madness

FromTheFields Thursday August 22, 2024

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was recently killed while he slept in a compound controlled by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It is widely believed that the responsible party for carrying out the assassination was Israel. The Israeli government has neither confirmed nor denied those reports.

Haniyeh, a peace negotiator for Hamas, was in Iran to attend the inauguration of Iran's new President, Masoud Pezeshkian. Pezeshkian was elected on a platform of seeking peace for Iran. He defeated the candidate supported by the Revolutionary Guard. The Guard epitomises the hardcore "Death to Israel" faction in Iranian internal politics.

Since the attack, Pezeshkian has advocated a measured response by Iran. Attacking Israeli forces in places like Azerbaijan and Iraqi Kurdistan. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard is advocating direct hits on Tel Aviv and other targets within Israel.

Of course, the final decision will be made by Supreme :Leader Ali Khameni. After all, Iran is still an autocracy.

The primary interest of the United States in this conflict should be limited to diplomacy aimed at limiting the possibility of escalation of hostilities in Israel's conflicts with Iran and Iran's proxies, Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen. Israel is a nuclear power. Iran may be. We really don't know for sure. A nuclear conflagration in the Middle East could easily escalate world wide.

It's tempting for politicians to pick sides in conflicts like this and form alliances. Culturally and politically, we have more in common with Israel. And we should certainly put no constraints on the ability of our arms manufacturers to do business with Israel. But we should not also be buying weapons for Israel. The Israelis have demonstrated over the years that they are quite capable of defending themselves against all threats. They don't need our further economic assistance.

By electing the relatively moderate, Pezeshkian, over the more hawkish Revolutionary Guard backed candidate for President, the voters of Iran have indicated they are more interested in peace and prosperity than they are in death to Israel. That's a sentiment that needs to be nurtured and encouraged, not manipulated for short-term tactical geopolitical gain.

That's this week's Report From the Fields. I'm Richard Fields. See you again next week.