University of Otago international relations professor, Robert Patman, told The Front Page that while Barack Obama was US President, there was a successful deal between Iran and the US that postponed the prospect of Iran developing nuclear weapons in exchange for lifted sanctions.
“Unfortunately, when [Donald] Trump came into power in his first term in 2017, he responded to pressure from the Netanyahu Government and withdrew from that deal, which meant that Iran was no longer bound not to develop nuclear weapons.
“Recently, there have been negotiations between the Iranian leadership and the Trump administration...
“The leading negotiator for Iran said that it was quite prepared to sign an agreement where Iran would never develop nuclear weapons and in return, sanctions would be lifted and also see Iran having the capability like Japan and Germany, other countries which have never developed nuclear weapons, but have nuclear energy for peaceful purposed, power plants.
“The sixth round of talks was scheduled for Sunday, but before they could occur, Israel launched an attack which can only be described as reckless, unprovoked, immoral, and illegal under international law,” he said.
Timing is an important thing in politics, Patman said, and with Iranian-backed Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Houthi rebels in Yemen all being perceptibly downgraded, some may argue there’ll never be a better opportunity to strike.
“I think another objective, quite frankly, is regime change... These strikes are not just against nuclear facilities. They’re attacking civil society’s economic assets like oil-producing sites.
“There are a couple of other motivations, and that is deflecting the mounting pressure on Israel over the catastrophe in Gaza,” he said.
“Another consideration is that Netanyahu, according to Israeli critics, needs a conflict to stay in power because he’s facing significant corruption charges, which are likely to be reactivated as soon as Israel is at peace again. So, while he can have the mantle of a wartime leader, those sorts of issues don’t surface too much.”
Christopher Luxon touches down in China today for his first official trip there as Prime Minister. Patman expects the ongoing conflict in the Middle East will be on the meeting agenda with President Xi Jinping.
“China is basically quoting the UN charter, saying that Iran is the victim in this situation, it’s the country that’s been attacked, and I would think that message will be conveyed quite rigorously to New Zealand.
“To be fair, the New Zealand Government has made some good statements in its response to what has happened. I think Luxon said that this was not a welcome development, there’s no military response to political problems,” he said.
New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has advised all Kiwis to leave Israel and any occupied Palestinian territories amid the Iran conflict.
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has said New Zealand is “gravely concerned by the escalation in tensions”, and that “the best path to regional security is the ongoing talks between the United States and Iran”.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about the growing animosity between Iran and Israel.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
