There are cynics among us who would argue that the European Union's oil sanctions against Iran, which went into full effect on July 1, are a double triumph for Israel's Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
If you assume that the real reason for his apparent hysteria over the alleged threat of Iranian nuclear weapons is to divert international attention from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, then his strategy has been a spectacular success. The main reason that Israel's allies are imposing these sanctions is to head off an Israeli military strike against Iran that would destabilize the entire region — and in the meantime, nobody is talking about the Palestinians.
In addition, the wily Netanyahu gets a bonus, for these sanctions really are going to hurt Iran economically. Iran is Israel's most dangerous and implacable enemy, and suddenly its oil exports, and with them its hard currency earnings, are going to be cut in half. Not a bad return on an Israeli policy that cost nothing except some threatening rhetoric.
To be fair, not everybody is convinced that Netanyahu's wild talk about attacking Iran is just hot air. A whole parade of senior Israeli military and intelligence officials has gone public to say that there is no imminent threat of Iranian nuclear weapons, and that attacking Iran "pre-emptively" would be deeply stupid. Clearly, they think Netanyahu really is a mad dog — but many others remain unconvinced…
About Gwynne Dyer
Gwynne Dyer is a London-based independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries.
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