Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

Not many good options remain to deal with Iran

What is missing from the debate on the Middle East is reality — a failure to look the problem straight in the face and accept the cold, harsh truth that no comfy solution is realizable.

The problem of achieving a peace deal in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is like a puzzle in which molds for the crucial pieces were never made. As long as forces at work in Iran, Syria, Lebanon and in the Palestinian-occupied area seek the extermination of Israel, a peace deal is out of the question. Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and Syria are joined in a partnership to undermine any real effort at a two-state solution.

Unfortunately, what’s even worse, time is not on the side of America and Israel. As history advances, Hamas and Hezbollah are strengthened by support from Iran and Syria, and the inevitable achievement of Iran’s nuclear threat goes forward without interference.

There are two possible outcomes — one is diplomatically unacceptable and the second is painfully untenable:

First, Israel and/or the U.S. could attack Iran and attempt to damage its nuclear assets, stalling the program for a time. The blowback from such an attack would unleash Iran’s surrogates and Iran itself, resulting in an all-out Middle East conflict. Nevertheless, this may be the best answer.

Second, Israel and America could grudgingly accept a nuclear-armed Iran, and erect a deterrence plan that would create “mutually assured destruction” for Iran and Israel. In the final analysis, one of these scenarios will prevail. Neither outcome will allow for a peace deal or the establishment of a two-state solution.

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