Perhaps the most shocking revelation in U.S.-Iran news from the WikiLeaks cable dump was not the hostility of some autocratic Arab gulf leaders to Iran, but the level of their rhetoric.
At ThinkProgress, Matt Duss, as usual, had some interesting thoughts on the revelations about the ‘snake head’ talk. He concluded with this sobering thought:
While it’s obviously important to take the concerns of our allies and partners seriously, U.S. officials, analysts, and military leaders have repeatedly made clear that a strike on Iran would be, at best, a short-term solution that would actually make an Iranian nuclear weapon more likely, not less, while carrying a host of other highly negative consequences for U.S. goals and interests. That’s, of course, the key question U.S. foreign policy should be concerned with.
If U.S. officials, analysts, and military leaders are clear about the futility of a strike on Iran, why are some of you so worried about war breaking out? Who do you think is going to start it? Not us, apparently. Israel? Their capabilities are inferior to ours, and in any case they’re doing fine with cyber attacks and targeted assassinations. No profit in war for them, either.