Tariq Al-Homayed
Saudi journalist and writer, and former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper
TT

Iran’s 'Anger'!

Reuters reported that the United States and the European Troika sent a draft resolution to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors to criticize Iran for not fully answering the agency’s questions regarding uranium traces at undeclared sites.

“The United States, France, Britain and Germany are pushing for the U.N. nuclear watchdog’s Board of Governors to rebuke Iran for failing to answer longstanding questions on uranium traces at undeclared sites,” Reuters said, adding that the step was likely to “anger Iran.”

What kind of anger are we talking about here? And what will it entail? Is talking about Iran’s “anger” an accurate expression, or a mere justification for Tehran’s manipulative positions on the nuclear file?

Since the beginning of Khomeini’s era, the Iranian approach shows that Tehran is not committed to any decisions, agreements, settlements, or the outcome of any negotiations, but only seeks to exploit the time factor until it obtains its desired goal.

With regards to the nuclear file, Tehran is evidently following the same path, manipulating time and even reaching its goal of acquiring a nuclear bomb, regardless of whether former US President Donald Trump is to blame for withdrawing from the 2015 agreement, or not.

The Iranian plan is clear. Everyone knows that the regime in Tehran says something but does the opposite. In fact, this regime is determined to reach the nuclear goal, even if the Supreme Leader talks about a fatwa that prohibits the acquisition of a nuclear bomb.

Iran has been living under the weight of US and international sanctions for a long time; neither its policy nor its position has changed. It does not want to be a member state that respects the laws of the international community because it is determined to reach its set objective – obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Therefore, spreading the expression of Iran’s “anger” in the media is nothing but a means to pressure the West and the United States, or can even be a Western-American leak to justify the lack of a serious approach towards the Tehran regime.

Moreover, Iran’s “anger” is a mere promotion of a fictitious subversive force – an anger that will not be translated into action. The Tehran regime is receiving slap after slap from Israel - not in the region, but inside Iran itself - with no Iranian response.

The reason is clear: Tehran does not want a real war with Israel, or a confrontation that leads to that war, because its main goal now is to obtain nuclear weapons. In addition, Tehran knows that it will be difficult to engage in a military confrontation with Israel.

Thus, Iranian actions will be confined to our region and our Arab countries. It would be enough for the West to absorb the lesson of the war in Ukraine, and the difficulty of dealing with a nuclear state, namely Russia. Our region will be like a time bomb, not to mention the inevitable nuclear arms race.

Iran understands only the language of force. If it becomes a nuclear state, then the region will head steadily towards a real disaster.