Israel, Iran and the US
Reports that Israel is planning to bomb Iran's nuclear power facilities coincide with US attempts to strangle Iran economically through the unilateral imposition of sanctions.
The Israeli government claims that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. However, Iran's facilities have been regularly inspected by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has found no evidence of nuclear military activity.
Even more to the point, Israel is not only the most heavily armed state in the entire Middle East. It is itself a nuclear power, a "secret" which has been publicly known since at least October 1986, when the Sunday Times of London published an article reporting that between 100 and 200 nuclear warheads had been produced at Israel's Dimona plant. That information came from a former Israeli nuclear technician, Mordechai Vanunu, who was kidnapped from London by Israel's secret service even before the story was printed. He was taken back to Israel and sentenced to 18 years' solitary confinement.
Despite its own military nuclear arsenal, Israel, with US support, has gone to great lengths to prevent even the slightest chance of other Middle Eastern states attaining this capability. In June 1981, the Israeli air force bombed Iraq's nuclear reactor just before it was due to come into operation, despite a lack of evidence of any intended military use. If it had bombed even a few weeks later, the entire area would have been exposed to deadly nuclear radiation.
That bombing was carried out with US F-16s, supplied on the condition that they be used for defensive purposes only. At that time, US President Ronald Reagan issued a statement condemning the attack. Deliveries of further F-16s were halted, only to be quietly resumed a few months later.
Since the end of the 1991 Gulf War, the US and Israel have regarded Iran as the greatest threat to their interests in the region. Not only is Iran sitting on a large portion — estimated at 93.9 billion barrels in 1990 — of Middle East oil reserves, but it also has reserves of at least 17 trillion cubic metres of natural gas. Further development of Iran's oilfields through a US$1 billion deal with Conoco Oil has now been blocked by the US sanctions.
As well, the US and its allies in the region fear the development of Islamic political movements springing from popular discontent with corruption and repression. Such movements have the potential to unseat the oil-rich sheikhs of the Arab-Persian Gulf. Linkage of Tehran with a number of radical Islamic movements has given the US another reason to target Iran.
Israel must not be allowed to commit further acts of aggression against Iran or other neighbours. But the United States government is equally responsible for the danger, both because of its own threats against Iran and because of its political and material support for Israel — including its willingness to cover for Israel's nuclear arsenal by not pressuring Tel Aviv to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT).
The present danger also clearly demonstrates that the recent extension of the NPT does nothing to reduce the threat of conventional or nuclear conflict. Disarming the nuclear powers — including Israel — is still an urgent need.