Good grief! The British Foreign Secretary has said something sensible.
He told the Telegraph :
Iran is a thoroughly malign influence in the region and in the world – there’s no doubt about that. You’ve got the Houthis, you’ve got Hezbollah, you’ve got the Iranian-backed militias in Iraq that have actually been attacking British and American bases, troops. And, of course, Hamas. So you’ve got all of these proxies, and I think it’s incredibly important that, first of all, Iran receives an incredibly clear message that this escalation will not be tolerated.
Second of all, we need to work with our allies to develop a really strong set of deterrent measures against Iran, and it’s important that we do that. The level of danger and insecurity in the world is at an extremely high level compared with previous years and decades, and the Iran threat is a part of that picture.
You don’t say, Foreign Secretary! Or rather, a number of us have said precisely that for the past eight years, ever since Cameron, when he was the British Prime Minister, was absolutely gung-ho for the catastrophic Iran deal brokered by US President Barack Obama (whose fan-boy Cameron was). Cameron’s government was an absolute cheerleader for that deal, which would have enabled a legitimate Iranian nuclear weapon after a delay of a mere few years while pretending to stop its development, and which enabled Iran to receive billions in sanctions relief which helped it become the regional hegemon of genocidal terrorism and war.
At the time, sources close to Cameron’s Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, caused my jaw to drop to the floor by telling me airily that the Obama agreement with Iran was an excellent deal that would put Iran back in its box, that it was a terrific success by the UK team which had played a key role in getting it through, and that they didn’t know why the Iranian regime was considered repressive since they had witnessed nothing but public courtesy and enthusiasm when their official motorcades had been waved through the streets by respectful police officers.
I kid you not.
Since then, the Biden administration (aka Obama 2.0) has made the disaster of US policy towards Iran even worse by grovelling to the regime to restart the nuclear deal, by relieving sanctions yet further through the back door, and by doing virtually nothing in response to the increasingly bold attacks on US assets by Iranian proxies except to redouble US grovelling. The result of this double whammy of America empowerment of Iran and the repeated signalling that the US would never take military action to stop the regime’s aggression led directly to the slaughter in Israel by Iran’s proxy, Hamas, with funding and assistance by Tehran, on October 7.
Even though US President Joe Biden’s speedy initiative in dispatching two American aircraft carriers to the region is thought to have deterred an all-out onslaught on Israel by Hezbollah, the US has continued to ignore most of the dozens of attacks on its own assets by Iranian-backed militias, let alone the rocket and drone attacks on northern Israel. During Biden's presidency, Iran has initiated 151 attacks against the US. Forty-six US service members have so far been wounded, 19 seriously, with traumatic brain injury. Response: yet more genuflection to Tehran.
Yet now the tone towards Iran adopted by by both the US and UK has got tougher.
That’s because of the crisis that has developed in the Red Sea with international shipping now being threatened by the Iranian-backed Yemeni Houthi rebels who are attacking everything supposedly connected with Israel (even when the connections are tenuous in the extreme). At least 15 merchant ships have been attacked since mid-November. This situation is directly attributable to the Biden administration’s appeasement of Iran, including its imbecilic decision to remove the Houthis from its list of international terror organisations.
Suddenly, the US and UK find their own commercial interests are being threatened; and suddenly both the US and UK are stirring themselves into some kind of action. The UK is sending warships to join Operation Prosperity Guardian, the international naval coalition being assembled by the US in panic to help safeguard commercial traffic against Houthi attack.
On Friday, the Biden administration publicly called out Iran as been “deeply involved” in the planning of attacks by the Houthis against commercial vessels in the Red Sea. You don’t say.
Times of Israel reported:
Citing newly declassified American intelligence, White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement that Iran is providing weapons, funding, training and “tactical intelligence” to enable the strikes along the critical sea corridor.
“Iranian support throughout the Gaza crisis has enabled the Houthis to launch attacks against Israel and maritime targets, though Iran has often deferred operational decision-making authority to the Houthis,” Watson said.
“Since 2015, Iran has transferred advanced weapons systems to the Houthis, including Unmanned Aerial Systems, Land Attack Cruise Missiles, and ballistic missiles that have been used in attacks against maritime vessels, including commercial vessels with no known links to Israel, and in attacks against Israel since October,” she revealed.
In Britain earlier this month, Cameron announced a new sanctions regime for Iran which included targeting Tehran’s support for Hamas as part of an initial wave of measures. The Telegraph reported:
But Lord Cameron’s warning suggests Britain is prepared to take further action, including new sanctions, if the escalation of attacks by Iran and its proxies continues. Asked whether there were other measures, in addition to sanctions, that could be deployed now, he said: “Not for public consumption.” …
He added: “I think the first thing to do is to get Operation Prosperity Guardian under way, which we’re taking part in, and the second thing to do is a very clear warning to the Houthis and to their Iranian backers that we’re not going to tolerate these continued attacks on shipping. We need to work with our allies to develop a really strong set of deterrent measures against Iran, and it’s important that we do that.”
“Not going to tolerate”, eh? “Really strong set of deterrent measures”, no less! Last Friday, Cameron summoned the Iranian Chargé d’Affaires in London, Mahdi Hosseini Matin, after ITV published a report detailing how Iranian spies planned to assassinate two presenters who work for the Iran International news channel. According to the Telegraph, Cameron summoned him “to make clear that these threats will not be tolerated”.
You think the Iranians are quaking in their boots? Such words are a distinct improvement. And there’s always joy in heaven when a sinner repenteth, as we know. But what do these words actually mean in practice? Because the only way to stop Iran is if the regime comes to believe that the US really will strike at the core of Tehran’s interests.
If the US and UK really meant what Cameron has said, they’d be doing something along the lines suggested by Majid Rafizadeh on Gatestone. He writes:
First, the administration should make it plain to Iran's ruling mullahs that if Tehran advances its nuclear program further, all military options are on the table. It must be made unmistakably clear to Iran that the United States will not allow Iran's current regime, a designated state sponsor of terrorism, to arm itself with nuclear weapons and emerge as yet another global nuclear threat in the Middle East, Europe and South America.
Second, economic sanctions, to cut the flow of funds to Iran and its terrorist Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, must be re-imposed, rather than have the US look the other way. The Biden administration, in addition, needs to stand firm with secondary sanctions against countries such as China, which are violating US sanctions by buying oil or trading with Iran. Countries can choose to do business with the US or with Iran — but not both.
As Tehran's major revenues come from exporting oil, US Senator Lindsay Graham has suggested targeting Iran's oil refineries:
“What I would do is I would bomb Iran’s oil infrastructure. The money financing terrorism comes from Iran. It’s time for this terrorist state to pay a price for financing and supporting all this chaos.”
Removing even just one oil refinery might also “send a message” and persuade Iran's ruling mullahs to rethink their plans.
Presumably intended as bribes in exchange for not starting wars, these billions of dollars are now being used predictably to start wars — and to finance terrorism. US taxpayers, therefore, have been paying for the murder of at least 31 Americans at the hands of Hamas on October 7; the abduction by Hamas of “20 or more Americans” who have been held hostage; the Iranian bounties on the heads of former US officials, and the finishing touches that Iran is undoubtedly putting on its nuclear weapons programme.
Now what are the chances, do you think, of the US adopting Rafizadeh’s suggested course of action?
Quite. But if the Red Sea crisis worsens, it could be that it will be the Houthis who finally awaken the US and UK from their suicidal trance.
Recent posts
My most recent exclusive post for my premium subscribers argues that it feels as if the west has signed up en masse to Nazism scripted by Kafka. This is how the piece begins:
Brainwashing becomes the new normal
And you can read my most recent post that’s available to everyone, on the failure of Holocaust education, if you click here.
One more thing…
This is how my email posts work.
There are two subscription levels: my free service and my premium service.
Anyone can sign up to the free service on this website. You can of course unsubscribe at any time by clicking “unsubscribe” at the foot of each email.
Everyone on the free list will receive the full text of pieces I write for outlets such as the Jewish News Syndicate and the Jewish Chronicle, as well as other posts and links to my broadcasting and video work.
But why not subscribe to my premium service? For that you’ll also receive pieces that I write specially for my premium subscribers. Those articles will not be published elsewhere. They’ll arrive in your inbox as soon as I have written them.
There is a monthly fee of $6.99 for the premium service, or $70 for an annual subscription. Although the fee is charged in US dollars, you can sign up with any credit card. Just click on the “subscribe now” button below to see the available options for subscribing either to the premium or the free service.
And you can always access the links to all my work by visiting my website at melaniephillips.substack.com .
A note on subscriptions
If you purchase a subscription to my site, you will be authorising a payment to my company Dirah Associates. In the past, that is the name that may have appeared on your credit card statement. In future, though, the charge should appear instead as Melanie Phillips.
And thank you for following my work.