Israel and Iran: Major Threats to Middle East Stability

This article was originally published by The Cairo Review.

For years, Iran has been accused of being the primary source of instability in the Middle East by much of the West, Israel, and a number of Arab states. One point of conflagration is that it maintains a network of armed groups across the region (the “Axis of Resistance”) which it deploys to attack other states in the area, such as Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. The second is that it continues to develop an increasingly sophisticated ballistic missile arsenal, which was brought to bear against the Kurdish areas of Iraq, Pakistan and Israel earlier this year. Iran is also criticized for supporting the regime of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (until December 2024). Furthermore, Western and Arab countries believe that Iran has violated article III of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) by enriching uranium beyond the 20% threshold for civilian use.

However, perceptions of Tehran as the main agent of regional instability have shifted in the Middle East and beyond during the past 22 months. A growing number of experts and organizations say Israel is committing more and more war crimes in Gaza, including genocide, and launching an unprecedented series of military campaigns.

And in recent months, Israel has ignored several orders from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) demanding that it take measures to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza. It also disregarded an advisory opinion of the same court requesting that it dismantle its unlawful occupation of the Palestinian Territories. Israel has also killed hundreds of UN staff in Gaza, attacked United Nations Interim Force peacekeepers in Lebanon, revoked UNRWA’s license to operate in Israel, and declared UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres persona non grata. In addition to destroying Gaza, Israel launched aggressive military campaigns against the Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah, Iran and the new government in Syria. Most recently, Israel even bombed the Qatari capital in a bid to eliminate the Hamas ‘terrorist’ team, with whom it also happened to be negotiating a cease-fire for Gaza. Israel has justified its violence as an existential fight against terrorism in the case of Hamas and Hezbollah, a necessary pre-emptive strike in the case of Iran, and as self-defense in Syria. Western politicians like U.S. President Donald Trump have largely subscribed to this frame. 

Read the full article on The Cairo Review.