by Frank Wright, LifeSite News:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pursuit of a decisive victory amid political turmoil could imperil regional stability, with the world anxiously awaiting developments in a volatile situation.
With tensions rising in the Middle East, the world waits to see whether Israel’s response to the Iranian and Hezbollah attacks will spark a potentially nuclear war.
Faced with defeat in its Gaza campaign, and isolated by a world shocked at its actions, the Zionist regime of Benjamin Netanyahu is in the process of deciding the degree of its response. As many commentators warn, it is a move which may spark a conflict which no attempt at containment will be able to control.
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Calibration vs. escalation
There are two strategies at play here. One is the “calibration” of the Biden administration which seeks to contain the crisis and prevent the outbreak of war. The second is the strategy of escalation which is alleged to be that of the Netanyahu regime in Israel: escalation to trigger direct U.S. involvement.
Reports that the U.S. sought to “calibrate” Iran’s response to the Israeli bombing of its consulate in Syria appear to have confirmed a U.S. strategy to contain the crisis and prevent a wider war – so far.
This “calibration” appears to have resulted in an Iranian strike which avoided causing deaths, “proving a point” that it can and will strike Israeli targets if provoked.
Israel’s attack on the Iranian consular and embassy complex killed seven, by contrast, including two Iranian generals. The U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said, “Diplomatic premises have immunity and Israel violated this principle by attacking the Iranian consulate.”
The U.S. “calibration” was observed by Iran, with its attacks on Israel rumored to have been “signed off” by the U.S. in the Financial Times report of April 12, published hours before the attacks began by Hezbollah, and a day in advance of Iranian drone and missile strikes on Israel:
Iran has signalled to allies and western nations that it will retaliate against a suspected Israeli air strike on its Damascus consulate in a ‘calibrated’ manner to keep an all-out regional conflict at bay, according to officials briefed on the talks.
Back-channel diplomacy, said to be via Oman, had secured this “calibrated” deal.
Tehran is unlikely to target Israeli diplomatic facilities in the region, said an official briefed on talks between Iran and Oman, the Gulf state that has often facilitated back-channel diplomacy between Tehran and Washington.
Iran appears to have shared its plan of attack with the U.S., whose CIA director William Burns was in the region during the period of this agreement.
U.S. intelligence on any impending attack appears to be detailed and specific, according to the officials briefed on the situation, giving Israel a window to prepare its defences.
This also allowed the United States and British military to play a significant role in the shooting down of Iranian drones and missiles during the Iranian attack, a fact barely noted in most Western media.
