Like small stones that fall of their own accord down a large hill, discrete events have a way of gaining their own momentum and crash landing with a thudding, far-reaching impact. This is the image evoked by a confluence of unrelated events that occurred last week. Ominously, all of them relate to Iran.
On the eve of his departure for Rome, where he attended the world food summit of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad once again fulminated against the Jewish state.
In a speech to foreign guests at an event marking the anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Iranian leader attacked Israel and the United States. “You should know that the criminal and terrorist Zionist regime, which has 60 years of plundering, aggression and crimes in its file, has reached the end of its work and will soon disappear off the geographical scene,” Iran’s official IRNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.
Ahmadinejad’s apologists will simply dismiss his comments as more wild, empty rhetoric, merely mischievous, wishful thinking. But the language is transparent and the threats are real.
Later in the week, the U.S. director of national intelligence, Mike McConnell, flew to Tel Aviv to discuss Iran’s nuclear program. He met with his counterpart in the Israeli intelligence community and with Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak.
On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert held a private meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush to discuss, among other pressing subjects, Iran. “Naturally the Iranian issue was central to our talks, and our shared point of departure is the need to deal with Iran before it manages to acquire non-conventional capabilities,” Olmert told reporters. Olmert added that, as a result of his meeting with Bush, there were fewer question marks between the two allies concerning the means, the time constraints and the level of American determination in dealing with the Iranian nuclear program.
The “level of American determination” is really a euphemism for the extent to which Bush is personally resolved to upgrade the steps to be taken against the Iranian regime, if not the Iranian nuclear program, before his term of office expires in six months. That “level” may have reached higher in light of the strong statements on behalf of Israel’s security by presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama. “I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. Everything,” Obama, the candidate considered the more dovish of the two, told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee gathering.
Whether the Europeans, Russians and Chinese share the American level of determination in dealing with the Iranian nuclear program will be a critical factor in deciding the next steps to be taken against Tehran. Alas, it is unlikely that they do. But various clocks are ticking, and the inevitable hour for decision is not far off. Events are unfolding, thundering down the hill. We await the impact of their landing.