ISRAEL-IRAN RAPPROCHEMENT

Given the ferocity of the on-going Israel-Iran war, and the hyperbolic declarations of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, any talk of a rapprochement would seem farfetched.

- By PK.Balachandran

But the Iranian-American scholar Rana Nejad points out that the two sworn enemies had enjoyed a clandestine relationship in the past in pursuit of their interests, and therefore, a rapprochement cannot be ruled out after the smoke of war dissipates.

On the face of it, the positions of the two are irreconcilable. While Netanyahu's aim is to bring about a “regime change” in Tehran, Ayotollah Ali Khameini seeks nothing less than the elimination of Israel.

"I would like to see the people of Iran rise up," Netanyahu said in a TV address. Driving his point home, the Israeli PM recalled that “Israel's actions against Iran's ally Hezbollah had led to a new government in Lebanon. Israel's actions had led to the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria.

"The Iranian people also have an opportunity to bring about a change. I believe that the day of your liberation is near. And when that happens, the great friendship between our two ancient peoples will flourish once again.”

On his part, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini envisaged a doomsday scenario for Israel. “The Zionist regime has sealed for itself a bitter and painful destiny,” he said.

In its operation codenamed “Operation Rising Lion”, launched on Friday, Israel said that it struck Iran's main nuclear enrichment site in Natanz. Negating the claim, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear watchdog, said that radiation levels outside the facility “remain unchanged”.

There are sceptics within the Israeli Establishment too. "There's no way of destroying a nuclear programme by military means," opined Israel's National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi. But the military campaign could create conditions for a deal with the United States that would thwart the nuclear programme, Hanegbi added in an interview to an Israeli TV channel.

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