THE UNITED STATES AND ISRAEL CARRIED out a large-scale military exercise, Juniper Oak, in late January. The exercise was followed by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and General Mark Milley touring the Middle East in early March, with plans for the first ever US-Saudi exercise in mid-March.
American officials coyly denied the drills were “intended to be focused on any one single adversary”, but Israeli officials loudly proclaimed that they were building their ability to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities.
The US Ambassador, Tom Nides, declared in late February that Israel “can and should do whatever they need” to Iran, “and we’ve got their back”. The Biden administration has refused to clarify whether Nides was giving a green light for war. Like every other President since George W. Bush, Joe Biden has reserved the right to use “all options” against Iran’s nuclear programme.
The allegation is not that Iran is planning to launch an act of atomic aggression, nor that Iran is even building nuclear weapons. (In fact, CIA director William Burn said Iran hasn’t decided “to resume the weaponisation program” that was ended in 2003.) Rather, the allegation is that Iran is putting itself in a position that would allow it to build a bomb quickly.
This rhymes with Russia’s military build-up before the invasion of Ukraine. A superpower is shouting that a smaller country’s capabilities are a grave
