(Jerusalem Post) Hillel Frisch - Israel's offensive posture toward the Iranian build-up in Syria stems from its desire to prevent the introduction on a mass scale of precision-guided missiles and the establishment of an Iranian-run weapons industry there. But there is another reason behind Israel's resolve: to increase the costs of Iran's imperialism. U.S. sanctions against Iran have struck hard: the Iranian economy contracted by 9% in 2019, especially due to the decline of oil exports. China has recently diversified its oil imports away from Iran, choosing instead to increasingly rely on Russian energy sources. The writer is a professor of political and Middle East studies at Bar-Ilan University.
2020-01-02 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive