“Obama is bending over – as well as bending over backwards – for us, enabling us to exceed the limits of the nuclear deal with no adverse consequences.”
Tehran, September 11 – The international community’s inability to stymie North Korea in its quest for atomic weapons, despite steep economic sanctions and persistent political isolation, has Iran’s leaders considering its first nuclear test once it develops the necessary materials and technology – but instead of testing the device on its own soil, the impotence of the Western powers and the sanctions regime has emboldened the Ayatollahs to plan for detonating the first such device over Israel.
North Korea conducted a test last week of a nuclear weapon almost as powerful as the bomb that destroyed large parts of Hiroshima in 1945, in violation of commitments to, and demands by, international disarmament efforts. Despite decades of severe international isolation and crippling economic restrictions on trade with Kim Jong-un’s regime, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has successfully produced an atomic weapon that threatens regional stability and various American allies such as Japan and South Korea. Kim’s regime has also cultivated extensive ties with Iran, and shared technology that will enable Tehran to cement its regional hegemony and secure itself against attack even as it foments conflict and pursues its imperialist ambitions in the Middle East and beyond. Given the anemic results of continued pressure on North Korea, say Iranian leaders, it makes little sense to move in small increments toward a nuclear arsenal when the strides can include the attainment of the long-sought goal of eliminating the “Zionist Entity” from the map.
“There’s no reason we can’t kill two birds with one stone,” argued Minister of Foreign Affairs Javad Zarif. “Obama is bending over – as well as bending over backwards – for us, enabling us to exceed the limits of the nuclear deal with no adverse consequences, and with a loosening, not a tightening, of existing international sanctions. In the current diplomatic environment, likely to persist under President Hillary Clinton, why should we pussyfoot our way to the destruction of Israel and the establishment of unfettered Iranian control of the region? If we detonate a, say, fifteen-kiloton weapon in Israel’s most important city and the hub of its economy, not to mention the region where eighty percent of its population resides, there will be some tut-tutting from the UN and the US, but no one will want to put a stop to the burgeoning economic ties we’ve got developing with Europe and elsewhere now that sanctions have been eased.”
However, conflicting reports have emerged from Tehran, where some sources indicate the primary direction of Iran’s plans involve Washington first, not Tel Aviv.