West's double standard on Iran

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

Regrettably, the April 14 meeting in Istanbul between Iran and the P5+1 group of nations [US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany] on Tehran’s nuclear program has been described as the last “window of diplomacy”.

Has President Obama committed the US to a timetable for a possible new war?

The rapidly escalating troubles in Syria require a regional approach to the interlinked Syrian, Iranian, Palestinian and Israeli conflicts.

Retired US Army General Anthony Zinni has warned us: “If you like Iraq and Afghanistan you’ ll love Iran”  

Tel Aviv might go to war with Iran, armed not only with weapons of  destruction, but  with a falsely rationalized self-defense argument.

Can the international community condone nuclear weapons for one Middle East country and punish another country for the same behavior? Let alone the fact that there is no solid evidence yet that Iran intends to attack Israel or to build an atomic bomb.

Over the weekend, at a dinner party in Orlando, Florida, I found myself in total political sympathy with a Canadian lady who explained the current predicament of Iran, her country of origin, to a small group of guests.  

The political conversation on Iran started late in the evening, when a guest asked the Iranian Canadian - a psychologist who teaches courses on leadership- whether “the people back home like the Islamic regime?”. She was categorical: “absolutely not”.

Another question followed: “Is not the regime afraid of an imminent strike ?”  Answer: “The regime would welcome an external attack” in order to rally the people around the flag.

Then she added: I am against the regime but for “the right of Tehran to defend itself ” with a nuclear weapon.

At this point the exchange drew the attention of another guest, who happened to be a retired US diplomat.

The ambassador emphatically opined: “Iran does not have the right to a nuclear weapon”. 

I asked the seasoned diplomat to justify the double standard which allows Israel’s elaborate nuclear arsenal and forbids Iran’s partially covert nuclear program.

The diplomat argued that because Israel did not join the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty (NPT) “it does not have to disclose its nuclear secrets.”

After a few cycles of exchange on this issue, the diplomat sensed the weakness of his logic, and grudgingly acknowledged the “double standard”.

In fact, by rejecting NPT membership Israel is as suspect as Iran for having hidden its weapons for decades.

Nonetheless, Israel occupies the high moral ground of belonging to an authorized nuclear club, together with other industrial countries which have the power and wealth to justify access, maintenance and potential use of nuclear arms.

If the Istanbul meeting is conducted under the shadow of further threats to Iran, the chances of a calamitous new regional war are going to increase.