OPINION:
The terrorist attack on Israel, which killed more than 1,400 Israelis and foreigners and injured thousands, with over 200 hostages, was aided by a complicit Iran that provided training, funding and support to Hamas.
Iran praised the terrorist attack on Israel, and its foreign minister cautioned Israel to stop its attack on Gaza, warning the war might expand to other parts of the Middle East if Hezbollah joins the battle.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah, also a proxy of Iran, shares an 80-mile border with Israel and has over 100,000 fighters and tens of thousands of rockets and missiles that could be used against Israel.
In Syria, Iran has established over 50 military bases, using Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps ground forces, the Quds Force, and intelligence services to support dictator Bashar Assad’s regime and ensure that Iran can project power beyond its borders.
Israel shares a 40-mile border along the Golan Heights with Syria. It’s obvious that Israel is surrounded by enemies, all supported by a hostile Iran.
President Biden’s visit to Israel was a vivid display of U.S. support for Israel, as was the deployment to Israel of the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, followed by the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Strike Group, in addition to a heightened Air Force fighter presence in the region. This is in addition to the billions of dollars in military aid to Israel that Mr. Biden is asking Congress to approve.
In September 2022, Iran was riveted by massive demonstrations protesting the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, arrested by the morality police for not wearing her headscarf properly. Countrywide demonstrations, led by women and girls, demanded long-denied freedom and equality denied to women, with the slogan “Women, Life, Freedom.”
There was some initial hope that these demonstrations, some of which called for the “death to the dictator,” would have an impact, but the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, supported by loyalist mullahs, brooked no dissent and brutally cracked down on the demonstrations, killing over 500, with hundreds wounded and imprisoned, and at least seven publicly executed.
This is the Iran that supports Hamas, Hezbollah, and its proxies in Yemen, Syria and Iraq. And it will be Iran that will incite a regional war against Israel if Gaza is invaded with an ensuing protracted war, with massive civilian casualties and widespread destruction.
There is no doubt that Israel must respond to Hamas’ horrific terrorist attack and do what’s necessary to free the hostages and destroy Hamas leaders and fighters. That doesn’t preclude, however, seeking a dialogue with the Palestinian Authority, which oversees the West Bank. Or being open to a path to Palestinian statehood while expanding on the Abraham Accords — diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and Kosovo — and seeking normal relations with Saudi Arabia, an issue that obviously concerns Iran.
What’s obvious is that Iran has not been deterred from using proxies to attack Israel and foment unrest in the Middle East, with the goal of Iran becoming the regional hegemon. A continued robust presence of the U.S. is imperative, as we’re witnessing now with Hamas’ — and by extension Iran’s — terrorist attack on Israel.
Indeed, an emboldened Iran, according to the journals Semafor and Iran International, conducted an extensive influence operation in the U.S., working through sympathetic scholars, analysts and influencers for nearly a decade to skew U.S. policy in favor of Iran.
China’s response to the Hamas terrorist attack was a general statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemning harm to civilians and stating that China is a “friend to both Israel and Palestine.” China normalized relations with Iran in 1992 and is buying significant quantities of oil from Saudi Arabia and Iran, more than tripling its imports of Iranian oil in the past two years.
A war in the Middle East would adversely affect China and its dependence on Saudi and Iranian oil to fuel its industrial base. And as witnessed in March this year, it was China that facilitated the normalization of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia. It’s clear that China has interests in the Middle East and wants to be a major player in the region.
For these obvious reasons, the U.S., in its talks with Beijing, could and should encourage China to become more involved in deterring Iran’s destabilizing behavior, especially with its support of Hamas and Hezbollah and its hostility to Israel and its recent terrorist attack on Israel that killed and wounded thousands of civilians.
This message that should resonate with the Chinese people — Israel, a sovereign country, being attacked by terrorists supported by Iran. Hopefully, even Xi Jinping will see the value in trying to moderate Iran’s behavior, given the impact this will have on his nation’s international credibility in dealing with a terrorist Iranian state.
The U.S. should also caution North Korea to refrain from providing weapons — the F-7 rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-fired weapon used against armored vehicles — to Hamas, despite denials from Pyongyang. Equally concerning is the reported weaponry North Korea is providing to Russia for its war in Ukraine. North Korea has a long record of selling rockets, missiles and weaponry to Iran, Liby, and Syria for needed cash to pay for their nuclear and missile programs.
Resuming a dialogue with North Korea to discuss these and other issues should be a priority for the Biden administration.
As President Biden noted in his address to the nation: “American leadership is what holds the world together.” And that leadership requires credible integrated deterrence (diplomatic, economic, and military) throughout the world, especially now.
• Joseph R. DeTrani is the former special envoy for six-party negotiations with North Korea (2003-2006) and the former director of the National Counterproliferation Center. The views expressed here are the author’s and not those of any government agency or department.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.