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No Separating Iran's Nukes From Terrorism
(Commentary) Jonathan S. Tobin - White House spokesman Jay Carney dismissed the idea that there ought to be any connection between the interception of an Iranian arms shipment headed for Gaza and the U.S. pursuit of a nuclear deal with Iran. Yet Iran's nuclear program and its participation in international terror are two elements of a common strategy aimed at destabilizing the Middle East and increasing Iranian influence. The seizure of the arms ship is a clear warning of what lies ahead if the U.S. continues to blindly pursue engagement with Iran. While an Iran nuke constitutes an existential threat to Israel, which has been repeatedly threatened with annihilation by Tehran, a bomb also gives the ayatollahs a way of creating a nuclear umbrella over Syria, Lebanon and perhaps Gaza and the West Bank. That changes the balance of power in such a way as to threaten moderate Arab states as well as Israel. What is really going on is a two-track policy in which Iran engages in diplomatic activity designed to deceive Western leaders and undermine sanctions on the regime, while at the same time actively building a weapon and seeking to dominate the region via terrorism and strategic alliances. The seizure of the weapons ship ought to serve as a wake-up call to the West that nothing has changed in Iran. We should have no illusions about Iranian moderation or a desire for detente with the West.