Iran in the cross-hairs
THE murder of Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh has all the hallmarks of a plot to stir destructive regional strife. This is another salvo to force regime change not unlike the destruction of Iraq and Libya.
Fakhrizadeh is not the first scientist to be killed in this way. During a twoyear period from 2010, four scientists involved in in the Iranian nuclear programme, have been assassinated.
The murders, designed mainly to paralyse and render impotent nations who do not toe the line of the Western military industrial complex, should be seen against the backdrop of the constant vilification of Iran as a threat to regional security. This threat stems mainly from the fact that Iran has over the years developed its own nuclear programmes for both civil and military use and that they now have the capacity to add to this nuclear warheads directed at Israel and possibly at other nations such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
It might be useful to place the relationship between Sunni and Shia Muslims in context. Many would not realise that the differences between the two opposing traditions are rooted in the interpretation of historical events that unfolded after the demise of Prophet Muhammad. There were mainly two groups who claimed the mantle of leadership of the Muslim community and disagreements about who Prophet Muhammad would have preferred to lead the community; one being Ali, who was his cousin and son-in-law and therefore from the Prophet’s household and the other being Abubakr, a staunch supporter and companion of the Prophet. Shias regularly go on pilgrimage to Makkah. Other than this, there is little to fight about as all Muslims, Sunni and Shia, believe in God’s command that “there is no compulsion in religion”.
Also, it is important to note that the West had no qualm supporting Shia Iran during the reign of the Shah. In fact, the CIA effected regime change in Iran when Kermit Roosevelt, the grandson of Theodore, was leading the destabilising charge against the then Persia in 1953. The supposed Sunni-Shia rift at the time was completely irrelevant to the West. It is important, though, to note that the installation of a US-friendly Shah, was to secure the Zionist occupation of Palestine about five years earlier and the formation of the oil conglomerate, the then Saudi-Aramco, between the US and the Saudi Royal family, not the Saudi people.
Iran, along with North Korea, is regarded as a danger particularly since the 1979 revolution when the people spoke and opted to be independent of the comfortable relationships that many corrupt Arab nations have with big business the world over. The recent “normalisation” between Israel and the weak-kneed Arab states, brokered by the Saudi Royal family, is indicative of the ganging up against Iran for supposed possession of weapons of mass destruction. It is more a “mass distraction”.
No one can explain why Iran, or any other nation, should not develop its own capability; for either peaceful use in the generation of power, or to defend itself from being bullied by those who possess a nuclear arsenal. This sickening disparity beggars disbelief. And this by the only nations who have invaded and bombed other countries into oblivion at will.
It needs to be said that the Iranians, given their status as a highly civilised nation for millennia, cannot be crippled by the continued murder of some of its top scientists. They have pools of incredible talent, unlike the rest of the consumption-driven Arab nations, which would easily fill the voids. That they would wage an unnecessary war against another nation goes against the precepts of their traditions and their religious dogma. So exploiting the threatened Shia roll-out of converting Sunnis to Shiasm is a scam promoted mainly by the Saudis to protect their ill-gotten turf and to underline their supposed status as the protectors of the two most religious sanctuaries in the Islamic world.
The assassination of General Soleimani recently and now that of Fakhrizadeh is bound to have severe repercussions. And there should be. Although Iran understands that they are being baited, particularly by the foolhardy Trump and Netanyahu to engage them. Unlike them, the Iranians are smart. And patient. It cannot be that Israel, or any other entity, could go around and murder people and not bear the consequences. Remember how the insignificant Afghans were partly responsible for the collapse of the USSR?