One wonders if Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, can be considered safe from the viewpoint of its national sovereignty. Observers say its very existence as a state is at stake. Israel today is fighting a multi-front war. It has of late considerably weakened its arch Islamist enemies Hamas and Hezbollah. But radical Shiite Iran, the mastermind of Hamas and Hezbollah, is still highly active against the Jewish State. It is rapidly moving towards acquiring nuclear weapon capability to achieve its objective of annihilating Israel.
Jerusalem needs to co-ordinate with Washington, form a joint squad and dismantle the nuclear weapon sites of Iran. But Washington seems to be looking the other way even though the threat Iran poses to Israel extends to the USA too. It is well documented that to Khamenei’s Iran, Israel is the “Little Satan” and the US “Great Satan.”
American President Donald J Trump does not seem to grasp the Iranian regime has had no intention of abandoning its nuclear weapons programme. The pattern of the functioning of the ruling mullahs in Iran suggests they will do anything to preserve their uranium enrichment programme. They calculate it might give them the power to annihilate Israel and establish its dominion over the rest of the world. For this, their regime would pretend to negotiate with the United States and even appear to agree to comply with the latter’s conditions here and there. But all this would be designed just to extract billions of dollars in sanctions relief and use the fund so acquired to advance its nuclear armament programme.
The observers counsel Washington and Jerusalem must coordinate and take all appropriate actions at dismantling the Iranian nuclear weapon sites at the earliest. The USA and Israel would do well also to rope Japan, a democracy in East Asia, in this venture to dismantle Iranian nuclear assets.
Regrettably, Japan has so far been helpful to Iran in its nuclear armament programme. Iran has been one of Japan’s significant suppliers of energy resources. In 2023, Japan imported mineral fuels, oils, and distillation products.
Tokyo is said to have been trying to bring Tehran and Washington closer in order to keep its economic ties with Iran smooth. During the first Trump administration, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sought to facilitate contact between Tehran and Washington. Today Japan (alongside Qatar, Oman and the Swiss embassy in Tehran) continues to serve as a conduit for communication between Washington and Tehran.
Pertinently, Japan is said to be interested in cultivating Iran also to manage the Houthis menace it has been faced with. Iran’s influence over the Houthis is well known. Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea hurt Japan too. Substantial numbers of its commercial vessels use this route to reach other nations. The Houthi attacks have forced its companies to reroute vessels around Africa, increasing both transit times and costs.
The observers add Japan would do well to review its Iran policy. Tokyo must boost its ties with Jerusalem. Japan-Israel ties have developed a lot over the years. This relationship has expanded beyond politics to include economic, cultural, and scientific cooperation. Japan has been increasingly focused on strengthening economic ties with Israel, particularly in technology and innovation. The two nations have over the years strengthened their ties, especially in anti-missile systems and cyber defense.
Japan ought to bear in mind that the Iranian nuclear weapon programme is hostile not only to Israel but also to the entire civilized world. By no stretch of imagination can Japan be immune to the ill-effects of the Iranian nuclear armament if Tehran is allowed to achieve it.
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Jagdish N Singh is a senior journalist based in New Delhi, India. He is also a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute
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