Look for signs of Iran in what is happening

Asharq Al-Awsat - Iran is playing the role of the saboteur in the Arab arena, exploiting issues of regional tension at the time of the Arab Spring revolutions. This is in order to heat up the region so as to disturb Tel Aviv and Washington, prompting them – at the end of the day – to accept negotiations with Tehran on Iranian terms.

This Iranian behavior, based on trading and bartering at times of crisis, is a fundamental philosophy of the Revolutionary Guards, who control the joints of the state in Tehran. The Iranian principle is based on the following simple premise:

“Stoke up a regional fire until the world complains of the flames, and then they will come to you with their calls to intervene. Here, and only here, can you barter with them and take what you want”. So, the Iranian merchant, who traditionally dealt in pistachio nuts, carpets and caviar, has now become adept at trading in crises.

The question that comes to mind is what crises will be exchanged for what Iranian demands?!

From the Iranian perspective, Tehran is searching for three main things:

1. Recognition of its right to nuclear capabilities, not to manufacture a nuclear bomb.

2. An end to the international trade and economic embargo on the Iranian state.

3. The re-integration and acceptance of Iran into the international community at all levels.

As for Israel and the US, they are trying, with all their might, to do the following:

1. To pressure the Iranian regime from the outside until it starts to erode from the inside.

2. To encourage an “Iranian Spring” to shake the authority of the supreme leader and the religious state, and to support the democratic and liberal forces there.

3. To reign in Iran’s territorial expansions in Lebanon and Gaza, Bahrain and Yemen.

As for the countries that are now bearing the brunt of Iran’s policies, they see Tehran as the new “Great Satan” which has ignited the fires of tension in the region. Some believe that Tehran is preparing to engulf the entire Arab region by heating up all its regional issues, closing down its oil straits, provoking small wars, increasing sectarian strife and providing extremist groups with money, weapons and training, in order to use all of this as a bargaining chip when it comes to negotiating with Washington.

We are just a trivial piece in the Iranian chess game, and it does not matter to Tehran if it inflames the entire region, destroys its economy, and puts everyone on the brink of a devastating war!

by Emad El Din Adeeb