Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has again accused Israel of working with the U.S. administration to increase pressure on Iran. According to him:
Saudi Arabia and its allies, along with the Zionist regime (Israel), compelled the United States to withdraw from the nuclear agreement with Iran and halt its negotiations with Tehran to lower oil prices. As a result, oil prices have dropped from $120 per barrel to around $30.
Rouhani defined the Iranians as “men of logic and discourse.” However, he added that “the other side (the United States) makes weak claims, according to which it will compel Iran to come to negotiations (on its conditions).” He stressed that under these conditions, even if every world power called upon Iran to join in negotiations, it would not do so.2
During his announcement that Iran is withdrawing from parts of the nuclear deal (May 8, 2019), the Iranian president accused Zionism and the Zionist lobby in the United States of putting pressure on the United States to pull out of the nuclear deal.
The extremist group that rules the White House has snatched authority from the president and has created problems not only for the residents of the area, but also for the friends of the United States in Europe, Canada, and Mexico. Under these conditions, Zionism and pressure groups within the United States, and especially AIPAC, leaned on the United States to withdraw from the nuclear deal.
Some of the media outlets in Iran accused Israel of being responsible for the “act of sabotage” on the Saudi Arabian tankers close to the port of Fujairah to cause an additional escalation in relations between Iran and the United States.
At the same time, senior Iranian officials, in the same spirit as Supreme Leader Khamenei, continue to assert that a war between Iran and the United States is not expected. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif stated on May 18, 2019, “We are sure that war won’t break out because Iran is not interested in war, and no country will delude itself” that it can deal with Iran’s power in the region.3
The insertion of the names of Israel and Zionism into the discourse of senior Iranian officials during the current escalation is only one part of the Iranian regime’s measures to strengthen the basis of its domestic support and to try to win the hearts and minds of the Sunni Arab population over and above their leaders.
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