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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/01/opinion/iran-israel-war.html
America May Soon Face a Fateful Choice about Iran
(New York Times) Thomas L. Friedman - Hamas's surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7 was part of a broader Iranian campaign to drive America out of the Middle East and America's Arab and Israeli allies into a corner - before they could corner Iran. President Biden could face the most fateful decision of his presidency: whether to go to war with Iran, alongside Israel, and take out Tehran's nuclear program, which is the keystone of Iran's strategic network in the region. Iran has been building that network to supplant America as the most powerful force in the Middle East and to bleed Israel to death by a thousand cuts inflicted by its proxies. Iran is the biggest indigenous imperial power in the Middle East, and through its proxies it has been dominating the politics of millions of Arabs living in Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, Iraq and Yemen - dragging their citizens into wars with Israel that few of them have any interest in. No leader in any of these Arab states today can make decisions hostile to Iran's interests without fear of being killed. Lebanon has not been able to appoint a president since Oct. 30, 2022, in large part because Tehran won't allow an independent Lebanese patriot to be in charge there. Lebanon and Syria had to observe three days of mourning after Iran's president died in a helicopter crash.