Removing Iran from the 'new Middle East'

The configuration of the new Middle East — as envisaged by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during the Israeli war against Lebanon in July and August 2006, most certainly has no place for more than one regional power broker, namely Israel.

Under such an arrangement — subservient Arabs and Iran governed by an all-powerful Israel and supervised, even from afar by the seemingly philanthropic United States — would ensure Israel's "security," which has for long served as a casus belli, and supposed American interests in the region. Regardless of what one thinks of such logic, in Washington, it prevails.

With the elimination of Iraq — not just Saddam Hussein and his Ba'ath Party as some in the mainstream media tirelessly reiterate, but rather Iraq as a strong Arab nation with immense regional influence — the long-sought pact is close at hand. Iran however remains the only menacing reality that stands between Israel and its powerful Washington allies and this new Middle East.

This means that the war of words between Teheran and Washington is mostly inspired by this redoubtable strategic chasm: where Washington strives to knock the Iran factor out of the regional equation, and Teheran pushes with all of its might to keep itself pertinent, indeed equally relevant to the shaping of the region's future. More...