According to this Washington Post analysis, the latest developments in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iraq stem from Iranian desperation over world pressure against it’s nuclear program:
The United States and its allies set a collision course with Iran over its nuclear program. And there is mounting concern that Iraq’s sectarian violence is crossing the threshold to a full-blown civil war.
A common thread in the three crises is Iran — for its support of the two Islamist groups, its alleged funding and arming of Iraqi militias and extremist groups, and its refusal to give a final response to the Western package of incentives designed to prevent it from converting a peaceful energy program into one to develop nuclear weapons.
“There seems to be a hand in each one of these — Iran’s and Syria’s,” Assistant Secretary of State C. David Welch said in a telephone interview from Amman, Jordan. “Today does cross a threshold because, as Hezbollah has now said, this action was planned. It was intended to escalate and widen the battleground.”
The NY Times and Time magazine reached similar conclusions. Last April, we raised this very concern.
