IN the run-up to the war on Iran, as well as over the past few days, American officials, from the president on down, have been framing Iran as a threat to the region. At times, Tehran’s nuclear programme is flagged as a grave danger to world peace, at other times, its ballistic missiles are highlighted. Tehran’s support for what it views as the ‘Axis of Resistance’ — Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis and Iraq’s Hashd as-Shaabi — is also cited as a disruptive influence in the region. Thrown in for good measure is criticism of Iran’s suppression of internal dissent, with American and Israeli officials promising to come to the ‘help’ of the Iranian people. One must ask if bombing schools, universities and public infrastructure, and killing thousands of Iranian civilians in the process, is part of this ‘help’. Arguably, Washington and Tel Aviv have manufactured a phantom threat. While Tehran does have territorial and ideological disputes and differences with some of its Arab neighbours, the biggest threat to Middle East peace is Israel, which has been murdering civilians and occupying territories not its own with impunity for decades now. If any regional state is to be reined in, it is Israel.

Currently, Israel illegally occupies territory in Palestine, Lebanon and Syria. Therefore, the Arab and Muslim world, as well as the international community, must focus on the Israeli threat rather than any real or imagined danger from Iran. In the occupied territories, Tel Aviv has carried out a genocidal war in Gaza, while conditions in the West Bank are suffocating. It should be remembered that the October 2023 Hamas attacks were sparked by the inhuman Israeli siege of Gaza. Meanwhile in Syria, taking advantage of the chaos after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, the Zionist state has increased the area it occupies manifold, in addition to the Golan Heights. And while a ceasefire has been reached in Lebanon, it is unlikely Israel will vacate the territory it has occupied in the south of the country. In fact, senior Israeli officials have spoken of permanently annexing these Arab territories. These are the building blocks of the ‘Greater Israel’ scheme. Therefore, if the US is serious about long-term Middle East calm, instead of amplifying the ‘Iranian threat’, Washington must examine the danger Israel poses to regional and global peace.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2026