The March 9 announcement of the China-mediated agreement of Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore diplomatic relations has clearly thrown a monkey-wrench in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s scheme to create an Israeli-Arab alliance against Iran. The normalization of Israeli relations with Saudi Arabia was to be the next objective in that scheme. Netanyahu himself was in Rome at the time, where he apparently refused to publicly comment on the Iran-Saudi rapprochement. Rather, he issued a statement claiming that there will be a “horrible nuclear war” if Iran is not contained.
“If Iran gets a nuclear weapon, this will be a problem all of us will face. It will change the world,” he said in an English-language interview with Washington-based Iran International that was also dubbed into Persian and broadcast in Iran, reported the Jerusalem Post. A nuclear Iran will cause “the criss-crossing of the Middle East with nuclear tripwires, as other regimes that understand the danger of a nuclear Iran will rush to arm themselves,” Netanyahu said, using the platform to urge global action in response to Iran’s enrichment of uranium to 84%, which is close to 90% weapons grade, but spectacularly ignoring Israel’s own nuclear arsenal.
“Iran’s nuclear program has hit a danger zone,” he said, adding that Israeli actions had delayed them by a decade, but now the program is pushing forward. The international community must deliver a strong common message to Iran, Netanyahu demanded. “We should tell them that if they cross over a nuclear threshold, that is something that we cannot tolerate,” he said. “We have to tell them there is a line you cannot cross, and there is a price to be paid if you do.”
The Israeli opposition was equally hysterical, though perhaps was more engaged in political posturing against Netanyahu than fear mongering against Iran. “The agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran reflects the complete and dangerous failure of the Israeli government’s foreign policy,” said former Prime Minister Yair Lapid. “This is what happens when one deals with legal insanity all day instead of doing one’s job against Iran and strengthening relations with the United States.”
