US President Donald Trump’s push for a peace deal with Iran appears to be moving towards some kind of closure, there is talk of the ceasefire being extended by 60 more days, opening the Strait of Hormuz followed by negotiations over contentious issues like Iran’s uranium pile, its ballistic missiles, role of Hezbollah and so on.
The interesting part is Israel is nowhere in the room. Rather, as The Times of Israel noted in a headline, “Israel began the Iran war as a partner of the US — and is ending it on the sidelines.”
“Any settlement with Iran is essentially about buying more time,” said Khinvaj Jangid, head of Israel studies at the Jindal Global University. “Iran is unlikely to sign a document that it will never attempt nuclear enrichment. Iran agrees that 60% of its developed uranium can be taken out but, enriching more will not be an impossible task.”
The West knows Iran well. If Iran does not change its rhetoric, or stop chanting death to America or death to Israel, then it remains unfinished business, even as far as they are concerned. So they could well return to arms at some time in the future.
But Jangid believes the US needed to get out of the current stalemate with Iran. The internal dissent with young people voicing anti-Israel sentiments and even some Republican voices criticising Israel, forced Trump into a corner and with mid-term polls due later this year, it was crucial that this war end.
As for Iran, it did not defeat America, says Jangid. “Iran saved itself from defeat. But what’s interesting is that the president of Iran, speaker of parliament and the foreign minister are fighting the regime hardliners. The speaker and the foreign minister have said ‘we are accused of leading a coup’.”
Tune in for more in this conversation with Khinvraj Jangid, professor and director of the Jindal Centre for Israel Studies.
