In addition to sanctions and a series of state-sponsored acts of terrorism and sabotage directed against the people and the nation of Iran, the U.S. and Israel are threating Iran with unprovoked aggression. Iran is unfairly accused of having an “ambition” to develop nuclear weapons and posing a “threat” to world peace and stability. Of course, Iran is legally obliged to defend itself against any foreign aggression.

To begin with, the allegation is a U.S.-Israel manufactured pretext promoted and disseminated by the mainstream Zionist media, including the main propaganda organs (BBC, the Murdoch media, Al-Jazeera, abc, New York Times, CNN, etc.). For years, Iran has been the target of a vicious and hostile media campaign of distortion and demonization, including the demonization of Islam. The media coverage is the second front of the U.S.-Israel war against Iran – a propaganda war –mirroring the media coverage in the lead-up to the U.S. aggression against Iraq.

Both the U.S. and Israel possess large arsenals of nuclear weapons. The U.S. is the only nation to have used nuclear weapons against the civilian populations (Japan and Iraq). Israel has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferating Treaty (NPT) and its nuclear program is a clandestine production of nuclear weapons. The Americans tell Iran: “You don’t have a right to have a nuclear weapon”, but turn a blind eye to Israel’s arsenal of nuclear weapons. Israel’s extensive nuclear weapons program is deliberately ignored by Western leaders and the mainstream Zionist media. The aim is to deflect attention away from the grave danger posed by Israel and no one seems abashed by the hypocrisy.

The proposition that Iran is a “threat” to world peace is outright false propaganda. Iran has not attacked or threatened to attack any country. In fact, Iran is surrounded by hostile U.S. forces and is confronting the menace of Israel’s nuclear missiles and U.S. warships.

We do know that Israel has several hundred nuclear bombs and a large modern army, financed and armed by U.S. tax payers. Israel has often threatened, invaded (Lebanon 5 times) and attacked Arab nations with unconditional U.S. support. The Israeli army continues besieging the Palestinian people, occupying their land by force and building illegal colonies (‘Jewish settlements’). In fact, successive Israeli leaders made it clear that Israel’s existence depends on continuous war and violence, not on peace. Have we forgotten the 1,400 innocent Palestinians, including 360 children, that the Israeli regime massacred over Christmas 2008? The Israeli regime is the most violent and morally corrupt regime in the world. The regime espouses a Nazi-like racist ideology to create a “Greater Israel” using military force.

In a recent poll of Arab public opinion (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and UAE – all U.S.-backed despotic regimes) conducted by the University of Maryland in conjunction with Zogby International, respondents were asked to “name two countries that are the biggest threat to you”. The results: 88% named the U.S. and 77% named Israel. Only 9% chose Iran. According to a Eurobarometer poll for the European Commission, Israel is the greatest threat to world peace and humanity.

Therefore, it is Israel, not Iran that should be subjected to sanctions and pressure to give up its nuclear weapons. Moreover, Israel is using this manufactured Iranian “threat” not only to acquire new weapons from the U.S. and other Western nations but also to divert attention away its colonisation of Palestinian land.

There is no evidence that Iran is engaged in a clandestine program to develop nuclear arms. The Pentagon and 16 major U.S. intelligence agencies supported by the National Intelligence Estimate (N.I.E.) confirmed that Iran is NOT developing nuclear weapons and poses NO military threat. Even the International Atomic Energy Agency (I.A.E.A.), a U.S.-controlled imperialist tool, has failed to provide hard evidence to prove that Iran is engage in developing nuclear weapons.

As  Seymour Hersh of the New Yorker magazine (June 06, 2001) explained; “Despite years of covert operations inside Iran, extensive satellite imagery, and the recruitment of many Iranian intelligence assets [spies], the United States and its allies, including Israel, have been unable to find irrefutable evidence of an ongoing hidden nuclear-weapons program in Iran, according to intelligence and diplomatic officials here and abroad.” In short, all of Iran’s nuclear material is fully accounted for peaceful and legal use for energy and medicine.

Despite all the evidence to substantiate the legal – according to NPT provisions – and peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program, Iran is subjected to sanctions and threatened with military aggression by the U.S. and Israel. Because the main issue has never been whether or not Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons; the aim has always been to keep the region backward and dominated by the U.S. and Israel. The nuclear weapons issue is a criminal pretext to justify war on the Iranian people. It is a déjà vu of Iraq, using the same “experts” and the same false propaganda campaign to rally the American people for war against Iran.

The hype about the threat posed by Iraq’s non-existent “Weapons of Mass Destructions” (WMDs) is replaced by the hype about the threat posed by Iran’s non-existent nuclear bomb.

For more than a decade, the Iraqi people were subjected to the most criminal genocidal sanctions and aerial bombings by the U.S. and Britain. More than 2 million innocent Iraqi civilians, including some 600,000 infants under the age of 5, were murdered. The death of these infants was justified by U.S. official as “the price we think is worth it”. It was a deliberate genocide. The Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein was accused of possessing WMDs and threating the world.

The accusation was a blatant forgery and lies concocted by the U.S., Israel, and Britain to justify the invasion and occupation of Iraq. The propaganda was massive and the mainstream Zionist media played a criminal role, demonising Iraq and manipulating public opinion to justify a bloodbath.

From the outset, the aim was to destroy Iraq as a nation. After nine years of murderous Occupation, the “new” Iraq is a colonial dictatorship in ruins, ravaged by the U.S. and still under U.S. occupation. Western academics called it, the “demodernization” of Iraq. Every Iraqi institution, including the army and police was dismantled. The healthcare services and the education system were destroyed, and remain so. The nation’s infrastructure, including roads, bridges, electrical plants, water purification plants, museums and schools were destroyed and left unrepaired. In addition, the U.S. sowed the seeds of division, violence and corruption.

The aim is to keep Iraq divided and under the control of U.S. Zionist- imperialist agenda. At least 1.5 million innocent Iraqis, mostly women and children have been killed and more than 5 million Iraqis have become refugees. It was a premeditated barbaric aggression against an entirely defenceless population. Only Nazi Germany had committed similar war of aggression and war crimes in the past. The perpetrators of the war on Iraq and their minions should stand trial for planning and launching a war of aggression.

After the criminal destruction of Iraq, the U.S. and its allies have just completed the destruction of Libya and set it on the road to backwardness and poverty. Tens of thousands of innocent Libyans have been murdered by U.S.-NATO bombings and Western-sponsored mercenaries, terrorists and criminals. Why?

The Libyan model of destruction – using Western-sponsored armed insurgents, terrorists and criminals – is being implemented, but not without some difficulties. Syria is not Libya. Playing the sectarian card has always been the U.S. method of sowing violence. The Syrian government is obliged to defend the nation again Western-backed armed insurgency. What will the U.S. government do if one day it will face an internal armed insurgency?

Like Libya under the late Colonel Muammar al-Qadhafi, Syria is accused by the U.S. and its allies of what they call: “violations of human rights”.  It is an irony, and every U.S. politician should be ashamed of even mentioning the phrase “human rights”. The U.S. is a cesspool of flagrant violations of human rights. The U.S. is beset by repression, sadistic torture, state violence, inequality, injustice and racism. In addition, the U.S. government has a history of supporting illegitimate and despotic regimes around the world. The U.S. is not in a position of moral authority to criticise other nations.

Finally, the war on Syria is a proxy war against Iran. Both Syria and Iran are on the U.S. list of “rogue states” that are targeted for military intervention. Hence, an attack on Syria is an attack on Iran. The removal of the current Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad will isolate Iran and allows the U.S. and Israel to consolidate their Zionist dominance of the region and intensify their aggression against Iran.

If the U.S. and its allies are concern about nuclear weapons, they should seriously support the establishment of a nuclear free Middle East that includes Israel. If the U.S. and its allies are really concerned about human rights, they should; (1) end the bloodbaths in Afghanistan, Iraq and lift Israel’s genocidal military siege on the Palestinian people in Gaza; (2) stop interfering in other nations’ affairs; and (3) stop the violence and stop sponsoring terrorism.

The world is witnessing the emergence of a powerful U.S.-led military force aimed at dominating the world through violence and state-sponsored terrorism. It is of utmost importance to support Iran’s right to self-defence and to oppose any U.S.-Israel aggression.

Ghali Hassan is an independent political analyst living in Australia.