Iran’s Offensive Defence

Iranian Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi is on Interpol’s wanted list. The Argentinian government wants to quiz Vahidi over the July 1994 bombing of a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires which killed 85.

Argentina suspects that Iran masterminded the bombing and that it was carried out by Iranian proxy, Hezbollah. Vahidi’s involvement as leader of the Quds Force has been widely alleged.

On June 24, 2008 the European Union named Vahidi as

a person linked to Iran’s proliferation-sensitive nuclear activities or Iran’s development of nuclear weapon delivery systems.

Vahidi was appointed to the Iranian cabinet in 2009 amid protests from Argentina. A statement from the Delegation of Israeli-Argentine Associations then noted:

The decision adopted by the Iranian president, who systematically denies the Holocaust and calls for the destruction of the state of Israel, constitutes an unqualified insult to the victims of the massacre and their families, to the Judaic-Argentine community and to the Argentine Republic and its judicial system and deserves the most categorical condemnation by the national government and from the community of democratic nations

On July 18th, the attack on Israeli tourists in Burgas coincided with the 18th anniversary of the Buenos Aires massacre. In a sickening twist, Iran has accused Israel of carrying out the attack, despite Ahmadinejad’s apparent hints at Iranian responsibility.

Iran also stands accused by India over the attack against the Israeli embassy in New Delhi in February.

Vahidi has been busying himself recently with tests of short range ballistic missiles. He punctuates his assessment of the situation in Syria with typical anti-Israel rhetoric:

Terrorists do not want democracy (in Syria) rather their fight is aimed at creating a secure margin for the Zionist regime

On Wednesday, Debka reported that Iran’s supreme leader had told military chiefs that they would be at war within weeks. As Syria unravels, Kofi Annan’s blistering rebuke of world leaders strikes a solemn chord. There are reports that Iran has sent thousands of fighters to Syria to aide al-Assad’s regime. The proxy war in Syria may be an ‘appetiser’ to the main course of wide-spread regional conflict.

Iran will undoubtedly continue its multi-pronged strategy: nuclear capability development, exporting terrorism through proxy forces and anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist propaganda aimed at isolating Israel.

With Vahidi in charge of the Defence Ministry and Ahmadinejad at the helm of government it is no understatement that ‘anything could happen next’.