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How Iran Plans to Destroy Israel

(American Interest) Ehud Yaari - The Islamic Republic of Iran has been committed for the past 36 years to a doctrine aimed at wiping Israel off the map. Statements to this effect still pour out of Tehran almost daily. President Hassan Rouhani does not refrain from expressing his loyalty to this objective. All rival factions within the regime, and many outside too, agree that the destruction of the Jewish state constitutes an important tenet of their devotion to Islam. Iran is engaged in a sustained campaign that started in 1982 with the establishment of Hizbullah and evolved into the creation of Palestinian Islamic Jihad and a military alliance with Hamas. Iran has made sure that missiles provided to its partners can reach every coordinate in Israel. In addition, Iran has deployed 400 long-range missiles capable of hitting Israel from two dozen locations in central and western Iran. This would allow the Iranians to fire volleys that compound the challenge to Israel's Arrow defense batteries. The Islamic Republic's quest for nuclear weapons offers yet more evidence of its intention to take on Israel at some future date. The Iranians are also investing much effort lately to establish a base for operations along parts of the Golan Heights frontier. Under IRGC commanders, Hizbullah is busy recruiting local Druze and others to stir up the Golan frontier by planting IEDs and lobbing occasional mortar shells. Iran must be kept away from nuclear weapons and at the same time kept as far as possible from Israel's borders, if Washington wishes to avoid a direct Iran-Israel confrontation. This requires not only Israeli measures to insulate the West Bank from Iranian penetration and foil attempts to establish a new front on the Golan Heights, but also a determined U.S.-led effort, together with regional allies, to prevent an Iranian victory in Syria and curb Iranian predominance in Iraq. The writer is a fellow of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a Middle East commentator for Israel's Channel Two television.
2015-08-11 00:00:00
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