The
State Department and President Trump have been spitting out curses against
Hezbollah and Iran – this could lead us to fear a break in the 5+1 agreement.
But for Thierry Meyssan, while the worst may still happen, it is far more
probable that, once again, Washington is staging a phony quarrel in order to
better manipulate its Israëli and Saudi allies.
he US President’s speech on Iran was preceded by a Press
conference at the State Department accusing Hezbollah of exporting terrorism
all over the world on behalf of Teheran [1]. To show that the US was ready
to put its money where its mouth is, a reward was offered for the arrest of two
of its commanders. But – surprise! – not a word about Hezbollah’s victories
against the jihadists, nor about the 800 million dollars that Supreme Leader
Ali Khamenei has just offered to the Lebanese Resistance [2].
President
Trump then took the floor and wasted no time in loading insults on the
inheritance of Imam Ruhollah Khomeini, the Revolutionary Guard, and the Supreme
Leader [3].
He proffered all sorts of
weary old accusations which have long been disproven and laid the foundations
for accusations that they are responsible for the resurgence of Al-Qaïda.
Even before his speech had
come to a close, oil was already up by 85 cents per barrel, since the market
was betting on the cancellation of Iranian oil investments. In the hours that
followed, every one of the Western states and Russia deplored Donald Trump’s
aggressivity, while Israël and Saudi Arabia applauded.
However,
the only decisions announced by President Trump and the State Department are
the reward mentioned above and the pause in the certification of the 5+1
agreement before Congress [4]; the latter decision does not
concern international relations, but exclusively the interior politics of the
United States. The agreement of 14 July 2015 was adopted by the United Nations
Security Council, which alone can repeal it. Of course, all diplomats know that
behind this multilateral agreement, the United States and Iran have agreed to a
secret bilateral protocol which defines their respective roles in the Greater
Middle East. At the time of writing, no-one is able to say whether or not
President Trump has called this protocol into question. Consequently, all
reactions to the declarations of the State Department and to his speech on 13
October are nothing more than fan dancing.
The
ruling classes of the United States and Iran have always obsessed about their
respective relations. During the Revolution of 1979, the Carter administration
was so deeply divided that the Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance, and the
Security Advisor, Zbigniew Brzeziński, confronted one another, and both
threatened to resign if the President would not listen to them. It was finally
Brzeziński who won out, but not without masking the arrest of spies from the US
embassy in Teheran as the sequestration of « hostages », and then covering
himself with ridicule by failing to free them [5]. From the time of this
incident, the relations between Washington and Teheran have been a succession of
media lies having nothing to do with reality.
From the Iranian point of
view, the United Kingdom and the United States are lying predators who have
colonised and exploited their country, and who continue to crush other states
which have so far failed to revolt. This is why Iranians commonly call them by
the nicknames of « Little Satan » and « Big Satan ». According to Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, every man worth his salt must fight against their perverted ways. But
from another point of view, the Anglo-Saxons are not all bad, and there is no
reason not to do business with them.
During the Bush Jr.
administration, Vice-President Dick Cheney never ceased plotting with London
and Tel-Aviv to attack Teheran. He created the very secret « Iran Syria Policy
and Operations Group » around his daughter, Liz Cheney, and an old secret
operations veteran, Elliott Abrams. He first considered the use of nuclear
weapons, then supporting an Israëli attack from airports rented from Georgia.
However, what happened was exactly the opposite –Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad and the US Chief of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, met in secret on 2
March 2008 in Baghdad. By overthrowing the Afghan Taliban and Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein, the United States eliminated the enemies of Iran on his behalf,
and favoured his regional influence.
During the Obama
administration, the White House attempted to overthrow President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad by organising the colour revolution of 2009. Having drawn the
conclusions of its failure, it initiated contact with its opponents, united
around ex-President Hachemi Rafsandjani. It so happens that in the period
between 1983 and 1986, the US National Security Council organised the
Iran-Contra operation. At that time, Colonel Oliver North and the ubiquitous
Elliott Abrams relied on a deputy, Cheikh Hassan Rohani, who introduced them to
the Hodjatoleslam Rafsandjani. It was with this group that the Obama
administration began talks in Oman, in March 2013. By some form of
administrative pirouette, Ahmadinejad’s candidate was not authorised to present
himself in the Presidential elections, which were won by Cheikh Rohani five
months later. As soon as he gained power, Rohani began official negotiations
for the 5+1 agreement that he had imagined during the Oman negotiations.
As for Donald Trump, he never
failed to maintain a violently anti-Iranian discourse during his election
campaign. This was also the position of his first Security Advisor, General
Michael Flynn. However, since his arrival in the White House last January, the
President has eliminated, one by one, all of his anti-Iranian advisors (with
the exception of Mike Pompeo, the current Director of the CIA). On the
contrary, his three main advisors are pro-Iranian (the Director of his cabinet,
General John Kelly, his Secretary of Defense, General James Mattis, and his
Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson).
Incidentally, it is
interesting to note that during the nomination of the Secretary of State, the
pro-Obama Press announced its certainty that the job would go to Elliott Abrams
– yes, him again. The President received Abrams for a long time, asked him
about his relations with Cheikh Rohani, then walked him to the door and
nominated Tillerson.
It is always possible that
President Trump could destroy the US-Iran agreement on an impulse, and even –
much more serious – pick a quarrel with the Revolutionary Guards, but it is
more probable that he will once again act up in order to soothe his Israëli and
Saudi allies. We have to keep in mind that Donald Trump is not a professional
politician, but a real estate promoter, and that he acts like one. He gained
his professional success by spreading panic with his outrageous statements and
observing the reactions he had created amongst his competitors and his
partners.
In order to decide between
these two hypotheses, we will have to wait for sanctions against the
Revolutionary Guard. Then we shall see whether or not they are serious or
simply an expression of Donald Trump’s manner and the traditional masquerade of
the United States against Iran.
Notes:
[1] “Nathan
Sales on US Efforts to Counter Hizballah”, by Nathan Sales; “It’s
Time to Mobilize a Global Response to the Terrorist Group Lebanese Hizballah”,
by Tom Bossert, Voltaire Network, 10 October 2017.
[2] “QE
with a twist? In 2016, the Supreme Leader of the Revolution distributed more
than 1 billion dollars around the world”, Translation Anoosha
Boralessa, Voltaire Network, 18 September
2017.
[3] “Remarks
by Donald Trump on Iran Strategy”, Voltaire Network, 13
October 2017.
[4] “President
Donald J. Trump’s New Strategy on Iran” White House Synthesis, Voltaire Network, 13 October 2017.
[5] There never were any hostages
at the US embassy in Teheran, but a group of spies arrested red-handed inside
the embassy. Indeed, despite all its squealing, Washington has never asked for
damages concerning this incident.
French intellectual,
founder and chairman of Voltaire Network and the Axis for Peace Conference. His
columns specializing in international relations feature in daily newspapers and
weekly magazines in Arabic, Spanish and Russian. His last two books published
in English : 9/11 the Big Lie and Pentagate.
The
articles on Voltaire Network may be freely reproduced provided the source is
cited, their integrity is respected and they are not used for commercial
purposes (license CC BY-NC-ND).
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