Israel Matzav

Could Iran's first target be its Arab neighbors?

Could the first target of Iran's nuclear weapons be its Arab neighbors and not Israel?

The only problem with this approach is that far from being the only country seriously threatened by Iran, Israel may well not even be at the top of the list. To understand why this is so, it suffices to recall Saddam Hussein. Saddam also threatened night and day to destroy Israel. Yet the country he actually tried to wipe off the map wasn’t Israel, but Kuwait.

Nor is this surprising: Saddam’s Iraq, like today’s Iran, aspired to dominate the region. And for that purpose, taking over neighboring Kuwait was far more useful than attacking Israel, both to acquire Kuwait’s bountiful oil fields and to undermine another contender for regional dominance, Kuwaiti ally Saudi Arabia.

Because Israel is isolated from the rest of the Middle East, it is completely irrelevant to the internal jockeying for supremacy among the region’s various Muslim powers. Hence, if Iran’s goal is regional hegemony, then attacking Israel would be a sideshow, just as it was for Saddam – who, while launching a full-scale invasion of Kuwait, made do with lobbing a token 40 Scuds at Israel. The most important targets would be Iran’s regional rivals, first and foremost Saudi Arabia and its allies.

Read the whole thing.

While this post (by Evelyn Gordon) could be right and it could be wrong, there is one thing we can say with certainty: When and if Israel does attack Iran's nuclear capability, the remaining Arab monarchies will be silently cheering.

Labels: Iranian nuclear threat

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:55 AM