An interesting read.

The fury of history: There can be no peace until there is regime change inside Iran

But it is #Iran, a country of 88.5 million and an ancient cluster of Persian civilisation (rather than many Arab countries, which are merely vague geographical expressions), that holds the key to the current regional war. Energy-rich Iran provides the money, the military training, the brilliant tactics and the dynamic ideology of revolutionary nihilism (which combines a radical Islam with an anti-Semitic fascism) that has allowed #Hamas and #Hezbollah to become what they are today. The older Arab-Israeli conflict over historical #Palestine was a conventional contest over states and territory. But the introduction of clerical Iran has given the struggle a tiers-mondiste quality, further infused with a millenarian religious call for the annihilation of an entire people.

It is Iran that struck #Israel on 7 October 2023, an event so dramatic and so bestial that it will be remembered like 9/11: a date so infamous that it becomes a concept. Of course, Iran did not do the murdering, the raping and the hostage-taking in southern Israel. Hamas and its operatives and supporters did that. Iranian leaders may not even have known about the exact timing of the event, or may even have been uncomfortable with its scope. But their long, total support of Hamas means their strategic fingerprints are all over the attack. Had Iran a different regime, there would likely have been no 7 October – no matter the anger and suffering of the Palestinians.

#gaza #war #peace