WarSclerotic

Op-ed: Economic collapse in Iran, rather than Israeli strike, may trigger regional war

Alex Fishman

The spring of 2012 will be critical for the Middle East. All the regional players are preparing for it at this time already, ahead of April. Everyone – not only in Jerusalem and in Washington – smells the gunpowder in the air.

Behind the tense, escalating statements issued by senior American defense officials lies a menacing reality emerging in Iran. It is for good reason that the US Navy commander admitted last week that he doesn’t sleep well at night as result of developments in the Hormuz Straits. And when the admiral doesn’t sleep well, while the US secretary of defense sets red lines for the Iranians, we can assume that here too our soldiers sleep with their uniforms and shoes on.

Everybody talks about the spring, because everyone is convinced that Israel will be striking Iran at that time, a move that will ignite the Middle East. The scenario is rather banal and emerges in every defense panel in the global media: This year, the Iranians will complete the task of moving their nuclear project deep underground, and from that moment an aerial strike would be much less effective. Hence, a strike appears to be required as soon as is possible.

via Beware Iranian desperation – Israel Opinion, Ynetnews.

This entry was posted on January 18, 2012 at 3:15 PM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.