[Spero News] Efraim Inbar - Today's Iran is an imperial power, just as Persia was once an imperial power toward the Middle East and other parts of the world. Iran has long had aspirations to lead the region, not just under the current regime. They believe that their past entitles them to have a nuclear bomb and to put them in the same rank as the large, important powers of the world. Iran propagates a particular, very radical version of Islam, and has a jihadist agenda to spread this version everywhere - not only to Palestine but also to Andalusia (Spain of today). The Iranians' nuclear strategy is simple: it's to talk and build. Tehran is ready to talk, but its goal is to gain time. It wants to bring about a fait accompli and present the world with an Iranian bomb. A nuclear Iran will embolden all radicals, Islamists as well as others, and allow them to feel that they have a nuclear umbrella. After Iran becomes nuclear, many countries around Iran will get closer to Iran rather than ally against it. The alliance of Sunnis against Shiites exists more on paper. We don't really see much action in the Middle East of the Sunnis allying against the Shiite threat coming from Iran. The writer is director of the Begin-Sadat (BESA) Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University.
2008-04-09 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive