TEHRAN IN MELTDOWN AS ISRAEL DECAPITATES HAMAS AND HEZBOLLAH

Conflagration engulfs the Middle East, with 41,000 dead in Gaza in a war with Israel triggered by the cowardly Hamas terrorist attack on innocent Israeli men, women and children on 7^thOctober 2023. The war has gone on for more than a year and many Israeli hostages are still being held in deplorable conditions by Hamas terrorists. In Northern Israel, constant missile and rocket attacks by Hezbollah led to the mass evacuation of more than 70,000 Israelis from their homes in 2024 and to the inevitable military retaliation by the Israeli Defence Force, as they crossed the border into Southern Lebanon. Israeli missiles are raining down on key Hezbollah targets in Beirut.

The assassination of Hezbollah’s terrorist leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, a seismic event, shattered his close friend and ally Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader and Hezbollah’s main sponsor. Nasrallah’s successor, Hashem Saffieddine, was also killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut within hours of being nominated for the Hezbollah leadership role and before the funeral of his predecessor had even taken place. Esmail Qaani, the leader of the Iranian regime’s terrorist Quds Force, has not been heard of since and it seems likely he was also killed in the same airstrike. These precision bombings follow the mass explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies in the hands of thousands of Hezbollah’s key operatives, killing dozens and maiming thousands, in a carefully planned Mossad operation that shattered Hezbollah’s communication system. The Israelis are forensically decapitating Hezbollah in the same way they have virtually destroyed Hamas. The world now waits with bated breath to see how Netanyahu retaliates against Iran and the massive ballistic missile assault it launched on Israel on 1^st October.

The sporadic missile and drone attacks by the Houthi rebels in Yemen, aimed at Israel, Saudi Arabia and at commercial shipping in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, have seriously disrupted world trade. The Houthis must now be looking at the fate of their terrorist colleagues in Lebanon and Gaza and wondering what might be planned for them. All of these terrorist groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen, share a common factor. They are all financed, trained, and supplied by the fundamentalist Islamic Republic of Iran. The head of the snake is in Tehran.

In a desperate bid to shore up morale and settle grumblings within the regime’s elite, Ali Khamenei addressed a mass Friday Prayer rally on 4 October. It was a rare appearance by the embattled Supreme Leader, who has remained hidden from public view since the killing in Tehran of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in an Israeli bomb attack on 31 July, shortly after he had attended the inauguration of the new Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian. Haniyeh’s assassination shook Khamenei to the core, leaving him afraid for his own safety, knowing that the Israelis could easily target him with a similar deadly strike. Khamenei, who appeared at the Friday Prayers under heavy security, congratulated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) for their “brilliant action” in attacking Israel with up to 200 ballistic missiles. He claimed the attack was “minimum punishment for the usurping Zionist regime in response to its astonishing crimes; a bloodthirsty regime, a wolf-like regime, America’s rabid dog in the region”.

Khamenei tried to sound a warlike note in his speech, in an attempt to mollify hardline critics within the IRGC, who claim the lack of retaliation following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh led directly to the killing of Hassan Nasrallah. Khamenei called for his Middle East neighbours to: “tighten the defensive belt from Afghanistan to Yemen, from Iran to Gaza and Lebanon, in all Islamic countries and nations.” He added: “The enemy of Iran is the same enemy of Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, Syria, and Yemen; the enemy is one”. The Supreme Leader’s aggressive posturing will have done little to bolster morale among his IRGC generals, who have watched in dismay as the Israeli Defence Force and Mossad has systematically dismembered their proxy terrorist militias in the region.

For decades, the theocratic regime’s strategy has been to rely on its proxies to conduct warfare on its behalf against Israel and western interests at arms-length, always providing Tehran with the gift of deniability. In return, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and the Houthis expected full Iranian intervention if they came under direct attack. They have been left stunned and perplexed at Tehran’s virtual indifference to their plight. Israel’s onslaught in Gaza and Lebanon has been met with little resistance from Iran, other than occasional and largely ineffective missile strikes. Tehran’s weakness has been exposed for all to see. The theocratic regime fears a sustained Iranian attack on Israel would provoke American and potentially NATO intervention and they shudder at the prospect.

The current explosive situation in the Middle East is a direct result of years of appeasement by the West. Repeated attempts to maintain dialogue with the criminal mullahs, in the misguided belief that providing concessions would lead ultimately to a change in their delinquent behaviour, have failed. Indeed, western policy has backfired, emboldening the mullahs to further repression at home and terrorism abroad. Now, in a frantic bid to foment fear among the rebellious population, the mullahs’ regime has embarked on an unprecedented wave of executions, with 853 recorded hangings in 2023, according to Amnesty International. Since the rigged election of the supposedly ‘reformist’ president Masoud Pezeshkian in late June, 191 executions have taken place, including 29 in a single day. 13 were hanged on Tuesday 24 September, the very day Pezeshkian addressed the UN General Assembly in New York.

The West needs to adopt a new policy, anchored in resolute action, strategic pressure, and unwavering support for the Iranian people and their organized resistance. By adopting this course, the West can help orchestrate the peaceful demise of the mullahs’ regime, paving the way for Iran’s transition to a stable, democratic state. This outcome would not only uplift the Iranian people but also deliver a critical blow to the global axis of destabilization, thereby fostering a more secure and peaceful international order. With the Middle East aflame, the moment for decisive policy change is upon us, and it must be seized before the window of opportunity closes.