According to a recent report published by MEMRI, in the wake of the election of US President Donald Trump, Iran has been shying away from directly confronting the United States but at the same time, the Islamic Republic has been increasingly supporting its proxies in their efforts to fight against Israel. MEMRI claims that the motive for this development is a fear of how Trump may react to any perceived Iranian provocation after the country was “put on notice” and a desire to keep Trump so busy with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that he won’t have time to go after Iran.

Former EU MP Paulo Casaca told JerusalemOnline in an exclusive interview that Israel “is anathema for all jihadists and certainly for the Islamic Republic as well. Israel is the rebellion of the people who are supposed be Dhimmi (second-class citizens) dominating the Muslims. Israel is democracy, feminism, freedom and several other things, which are devilish for jihadists.” For this reason, the Islamic Republic of Iran refers to Israel as the “little Satan.” When the big Satan, which is the United States, has a strongman leader like Trump, whom no one wants to mess with, Iran prefers to focus its energies on going after the “little Satan” via its proxies rather than threatening the US directly.

The Iranian Shia hegemonic ideology that dominates the political thinking of the Islamic Republic towards the State of Israel is powerful and dangerous. The late Ayatollah Khomeini, who established the Islamic Republic of Iran, wrote: “Islam makes it incumbent on all adult males provided they are not disabled or incapacitated to prepare for the conquest of other countries.” While Iran first seeks to conquer the Sunni Islamic world in order to establish a Shia Crescent that extends to the Mediterranean and Red Sea, as demonstrated by their recent activities in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen, Israel very well could be next on their list due to the fact that the regime repeatedly calls to wipe Israel off the map and has been encouraging its proxies to step up their attacks against Israel, as demonstrated by Israeli confrontations with Hezbollah in Syria, threats vocalized by the Syrian regime, Hezbollah terror leader Hassan Nasrallah’s recent rhetoric and rocket attacks upon Israel’s southern frontier.

According to Kurdish dissident Kajal Mohammadi, “The regime is ideologically hostile towards the West and all liberal democracies. They call for the destruction of countries and peoples on a weekly basis and sponsor mass destruction, terror and violence internally, regionally and internationally. The regime has its eyes set on expanding its Islamic Shia rule and power beyond its borders and will stop at nothing in trying to do so.”

According to Iranian human rights activist Kaveh Taheri, for the past three decades, Iran has been testing long-range missiles in order to frighten the world and to demonstrate strength in their confrontation with both Israel and the US: “The real reason for all of the spending is military. That’s not paranoid Western conjecture.” He noted that Hassan Abbasi, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp Commander, proclaimed, “If there is a way that an oppressed person can instill terror and fear into the hearts of disbelievers, this form of terror is permissible and sacred. I repeat, this form of terrorism is sacred.” Taheri noted that this sort of mentality poses a direct strategic threat to the State of Israel for the Islamic Republic has invested billions of dollars to obtain long-range missiles that can hit Israel and they support Palestinian terror groups even though they are Sunni in order to weaken Israel.

Iranian journalist Mohsen Karimi added that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair declared at AIPAC: “Iran’s regime is the biggest destabilizing force in the region.” He claims that Blair’s statement reflects what Iranian dissidents like him have been stating for years but unfortunately, Blair’s statement only reflects “a self-promoting figure of speech” given how much the West has empowered Iran in recent years despite the existential threat that the Islamic Republic poses to the State of Israel.

“The nuclear deal with Iran and its implications for US security and its allies in the region especially for Israel has been disastrous,” Salah Bayyazidi, the US representative of the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan, stated. “Now, it has been proven that the nuclear deal may not prevent a nuclear Iran. Along with a pathway to a nuclear arsenal, the nuclear deal has been providing Iran with funds and weapons the regime will use to support terrorism, to dominate the Middle East and to further threaten Israel and to prevent the US from defending its allies.”

According to Syrian Kurdish dissident Sherkoh Abbas, Iran has already declared victory in the Middle East. He noted that Lebanese President Michel Aoun and Palestinian leader Hanan Ashwari view Israel, the US and the Kurds as a major threat but not Iran despite their Christian faith. According to Abbas, this is because of the power Iran has exerted in the Middle East and he urged the State of Israel to place pressure on Iran in order to change this status quo.

Source: / jerusalemonline /