‘Isolate terror-coddling Iran’

International pressure must be applied on Iran, which is among the unknowns in the Israel-Hamas conflict, to keep its fundamentalist government from supporting terror groups involved in the ongoing violent strife.

Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss said the international community's action against Iran is an immediate challenge.

"We have been calling a long time for sanctions on Iran because it finances and promotes terrorism, it is actively seeking to develop a nuclear capability, and it has been polishing its missile capability," Fluss said in a roundtable meeting at the DAILY TRIBUNE on Monday.

He added, "Pressure must be made to bear on Iran to make sure that it is isolated and, hopefully, they will change their fundamentalist regime."

Last 12 October, Iran called on Islamic and Arab countries to form a united front against Israel.

Tehran, which financially and militarily backs Hamas, has come under intense scrutiny since the 7 October Hamas storming of Israel's southern border, where it shot dead people in their homes and on the streets in an onslaught that claimed more than 1,200 lives.

Iran has insisted it was not involved in the attack but celebrated the assault as a "success."

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi asked his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad in a phone call to cooperate against Israel.

The main problem

"All the Islamic and Arab countries… must reach serious convergence and cooperation on the path of stopping the crimes of the Zionist regime against the oppressed Palestinian nation," Raisi said in the call.

"Iran is supporting Russia in the war in Ukraine. Iran is promoting terrorism globally because of their fundamentalist philosophy. So Iran is the main problem in the Middle East," Fluss said in a meeting with Daily Tribune editors.

"The problem on Iran is not only an Israeli but a global issue, so it's not something for us as a country of 9.5 million people to respond to Iran," he added.

"And now, finally, due to the Russian involvement in Ukraine, helping Russia, it is much more obvious to our allies, and they're realizing what is the real threat of Iran," the Israeli envoy pointed out.

Israel's strong response to Iran's suspected backing of Hamas is to build up solidarity.

Iran applauded Hamas assault

"Yes, we are pushing for an international coalition. I can tell you that. You can see we have visits in Israel from (US) President (Joe) Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister of the UK Rishi Sunak, a chancellor of Germany, dozens of ministers of foreign affairs, all showing support in solidarity," Fluss added.

"We're trying to create solidarity and support for Israel in changing the Middle East and making it a safer place, in putting pressure on Iran, on Lebanon and Hezbollah, for them not to continue going down the path of a full-scale war against Israel," Fluss said.

According to Colin Clarke, director of research at the Soufan Group, an intelligence and security consulting firm based in New York City, Iran has been engaged in a shadow war with Israel for years.

"On 10 October, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, applauded the deadly terrorist attack by Hamas," Clarke said.

"Iran may not have ordered Hamas's attack, but government officials in Washington believe Tehran bears responsibility for enabling Hamas to gain the military capability and expertise to carry out the complex attack that killed at least 1,400 Israelis and captured some 200 hostages," he explained.

Days after the attack, Washington and Doha (Qatar) announced that Tehran would be denied access to $6 billion that had been recently unfrozen due to a prisoner swap between the United States and Iran.

Each year, Iran doles out hundreds of millions of dollars to improve the combat effectiveness of Hezbollah, Hamas, and other militant groups in the region, including the Houthis in Yemen and an assortment of Iraqi Shia militias.

Proxy war

With that funding, the groups, which Tehran has supported for decades as part of its "axis of resistance," have developed an extensive assortment of capabilities, ranging from unmanned aerial systems to high-end ballistic missile arsenals that would be the envy of most national militaries.

"Training and equipping terrorists, insurgents, and militias is a core element of Iran's foreign and security policy in the Middle East," Clark averred.

Iran uses proxy forces to advance its national security objectives, pushing adversaries like the United States, which has more than 30,000 troops stationed across the Middle East, out of the region and expanding its sphere of influence without generating a direct military response from rivals.

Proxy forces allow Tehran to meddle in ongoing conflicts in the background, maintaining a thin veneer of deniability and avoiding being pulled into a direct military confrontation with militarily superior foes Israel and the United States.

Clarke said Tehran also gains leverage through its proxy groups that develop political wings, helping Iran play kingmaker in local and national politics in Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen and elsewhere.

On 17 October, after scores of Palestinians were killed in a hospital bombing, Ayatollah Khamenei accused the United States of fomenting the chaos that is threatening to envelop the region, taking to X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter:

"The Zionist regime's policy is being regulated by the Americans. The US is responsible for the recent crimes," he said.

While the Biden administration provided evidence, based on the intelligence it had seen that the hospital strike was an errant Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket, the fuse has already been lit, with protests continuing throughout the region.

Protesters tried to storm the Israeli Embassy in Amman, Jordan, and violent demonstrators targeted the Israeli consulate in Istanbul.

As this developed, the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines said it is considering raising the present alert level 2 status for Filipinos in the Palestinian-controlled West Bank.

At the moment, there are 122 Filipinos in the West Bank, including a dozen nuns and 23 overseas Filipino workers. Raising the alert level to 4 would put in place the mandatory repatriation of Filipinos from West Bank.

The Philippines on Wednesday joined the United Nations' call on Israel to consider a truce with the Palestinian Sunni-Islamic extremist Hamas to allow humanitarian aid for millions of civilians stranded in the Gaza Strip.

However, DFA Undersecretary Eduardo De Vega clarified that the Philippines' position to support Israel's rights to self-defense on the 7 October surprise attack of Hamas that left more than 1,400 Israelis dead, including four Filipinos, remained unchanged."

 WITH JOM GARNER