Early Friday morning, Iran activated its air defense systems following reports of an explosion in Isfahan province. According to Iranian state media, three small unmanned aircraft were shot down over the city of Isfahan.
And although no one has officially claimed responsibility for the airstrike, and the Iranian government has not identified responsibility, considering that Iran has recently launched hundreds of drones and missiles toward Israel. It is not difficult, then, to hazard a guess as to its cause. Just to be clear, this was done purely in retaliation for the Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, on April 1st.
US media reported confirmation from anonymous US officials that Israel was indeed the source of the attack. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who is chairing this week's G7 meeting on the Italian island of Capri, claimed that the US had told G7 partners that it had received a “short-minute” warning from Israel of an impending drone attack. . Iran.
The action comes amid widespread calls around the world for “restraint” to avoid further “escalation” in the region following Iran's attack on Israel. Although there were zero deaths, Iran was hit with new sanctions by the United States. Far more deadly Israeli actions.
First, since October 7, Israeli forces have massacred more than 34,000 Palestinians, including more than 13,000 children, in the Gaza Strip. While this appears to be “escalation” enough, it only comes on the heels of nearly 76 years of Israeli ethnic cleansing and genocide in Palestine.
Among those currently calling for “restraint” in the Israeli-Iranian confrontation is US President Joe Biden, who is willing to arm Israel to the teeth and thereby assume all responsibility. If he wasn't the newest American head of state, he probably would have made this call with a straighter face. How to commit atrocities.
On Saturday, the U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on an additional $26.38 billion in “security aid” to Israel, aid that Mr. Biden himself has championed, saying in a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Wednesday: It is written as follows. Middle East; It is unthinkable that we would stand idly by if our defenses weaken and Iran is able to carry out the destruction it intends to do this weekend. ”
Never mind that Israel has had a monopoly on destruction in the region since long before this weekend. For example, let's rewind the clock to 2014. During this time, Israeli forces killed 2,251 Palestinians, including 551 children, in Gaza in 50 days. Over a 22-day period in December 2008 and January 2009, the same forces killed approximately 1,400 Palestinians, 300 of whom were children.
Naturally, all of these activities were carried out with the full support of the United States.
Meanwhile, in Lebanon, the United States aided Israel in slaughtering approximately 1,200 people over a 34-day period in July and August 2006 by bombing Israelis and inciting opposition to the ceasefire.
So how do you promote “de-escalation” when, after all, you're actively throwing money at the freest actors? In response to recent global calls for restraint, Israel's Benjamin Prime Minister Netanyahu thanked the world for its concern and reiterated that Israel would do whatever it wanted, as if we were unaware of it.
Moreover, how can the word “restraint” be brought up in the context of Israel's all-out massacre in Gaza?
It's not that America itself has ever been very restrained in the Middle East. The astronomical civilian casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan come to mind. In these two bloody regions, the American invasion makes a complete mockery of the alternative designation of Iran as a top “state sponsor of terrorism.”
Even in the Islamic Republic, the United States is guilty of outright terrorism. Remember when the US Navy blew up Iran Air Flight 655 in July 1988, killing all 290 people on board. Then there was the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, when the United States supported Saddam Hussein's efforts in Iraq to use chemical weapons and gas the Iranians. The same Saddam Hussein, of course, who would later expand into the role of super-terrorist. Justifying U.S. acts of terrorism abroad.
And that the US and Israel are collaborating with the exiled Iranian Mojahideen Khalq (MEK), which has been classified as a terrorist organization by the US itself for years, only further escalates the whole situation. It is.
The US State Department is currently warning citizens against traveling to Iran “due to the risk of terrorism,” but Friday's drone action raises the possibility that this “terrorism” may not necessarily be from Iran. Suggests.
After all, as we have discovered, Israel does not “restraint.” And the escalation of hypocritical rhetoric as Biden and his fellow powers continue to repeat their tiresome self-righteous rhetoric and call for de-escalation in a region where the US and Israel have never shown restraint. We could start by relaxing the situation.
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of Al Jazeera.
