00:00Let's now return to the topic of the current escalations in the Middle East between Israel and Iran following the preemptive attacks of Israel against Iran.
00:09And for that, we are joined by Yvonne, Dr. Yvonne Tejes, international law expert.
00:13Welcome, Dr. Yvonne, to From the South.
00:17Thank you for having me.
00:18It's always a pleasure.
00:19Dr. Yvonne, today marks the fifth day of the ongoing escalation of hostilities between Israel and Iran following the first strikes of Israel against Iran.
00:29And, of course, the legitimate response of the Iranian government against Israel.
00:34What can you tell us of the context of what is happening right now in that Middle Eastern region?
00:41Okay, well, definitely we're seeing an escalation of the Middle East conflict, and that is bringing more actors to the scene.
00:52It doesn't mean that Iran has not been in the spotlight, but this time with a different aim, and that is, of course, to, in a way, respond accordingly to its right of legitimate defense regarding Israel's attack on the first place.
01:14However, this doesn't underscore what has been happening before, and that is, of course, a massive West position, hostile position towards what Iran means, and towards what Iran means for the region itself.
01:38Because, of course, the threats, probably, that it implies for how the Western countries see Iran, and the fact that Israel is a direct ally of the United States,
01:57and Iran has been a long-standing enemy, a non-friend state for the U.S. means that there is an ongoing strategy, and I believe so, behind what we're seeing and the actions in Israel.
02:16And that means this hostility that Iran is facing, I think that probably what we could see and in face of what President Trump has said to Iran to give it up and to give up these atomic weapons, these nuclear weapons, as it's been said.
02:39So, defines or shows that there is a high probability of the Western allies directed by the U.S., executed by Israel to try to deploy Iran's regime.
02:54And this is what we are probably seeing through Israel's actions.
03:03However, it is not very understandable how can Israel manage two or three conflicts at the same time.
03:12I'm talking about Gaza, I'm talking about Yemen, and now I'm talking about what it means to enter into a military,
03:22inter-military hostilities during a long period of time, so that's also an issue that we have to take into account.
03:30I think that probably the strategy of the West and probably the strategy of Israel is to deploy Iran's first and primarily commanders and leaders
03:42in order to try to destabilize the regime, because this is not a new conflict, this is an ongoing and it goes back to at least the first part of the 20th century.
04:00And regarding also what has happened after the World War II, and how the definition or the redefinition of the territories in the Middle East came along with this new kind of conflicts,
04:17political conflicts, religious conflicts regarding these two states.
04:22Dr. Yvonne, we saw yesterday that U.S. President Donald Trump left abruptly from the G7 summit that is being held, that was being held in Canada.
04:32And while he was doing so, he also provided statements calling on the people of Tehran to evacuate.
04:38Do you believe that there could be a possible direct intervention?
04:41Because we know that in a way, indirectly, they are supporting Israel, both military and politically.
04:45But do you believe that it's possible for the U.S. to intervene directly in this conflict, following the historical record that we saw direct intervention from the U.S. in Iraq, in Libya, in these other nations, in Syria,
04:59in these other nations that Israel also wanted to target as they alleged that they were afraid to their existence?
05:05Okay, yes, well, in the line of what I said before, we know that Israel is completely sponsored by the U.S., even though when Israel attacked Iran five days ago,
05:21the U.S. came along saying that they didn't know about the attacks, and they, like, posed the distance between Israel attacks in the first place.
05:32But we saw the backup coming afterwards when President Trump was requesting Iran to give up, and, of course, telling people to ever quit.
05:45However, even though we know the history of the U.S., and we know this would be a kind of, in a way, like a proxy war regarding that Israel is the one executing on the territory the actions,
06:01and it's the one that's being exposed, and it's the one that's being exposed, and the U.S. is just in the back of the whole scenario,
06:09I think that there could be a higher probability that the U.S. comes along, because, and I think if Iran shows a kind of weakness,
06:20or maybe commit some flaws or some probably mistakes, I'm talking about military strategy,
06:28that may be a possibility that the U.S. will try to get advantage of.
06:35However, there is another issue, and that is, what is Trump facing inside his own country?
06:42We saw what happened during this military parade.
06:47We saw and we are aware of what's happening regarding the population of the U.S.
06:53and what he's facing inside his country.
06:57So I don't know, and this is a question that I just posed,
07:02if that could be a kind of a deterrent for the U.S. because of what it's facing inside.
07:10And probably that will mean that the U.S. will just stay like a spectator,
07:16seeing and sponsoring Israel in the territory, but not getting into the territory itself.
07:22I'm not very sure right now what could happen, even though, and I agree with you, of course,
07:29we know that the U.S. has not restrained itself for getting into others' conflicts or getting into other territories.
07:37And this could be a good opportunity for the U.S. if they want to deploy Iran's regime.
07:43This could be an opportunity that they are waiting for,
07:47even though we know that's contrary to international law.
07:49We know that's not ethical under international politics.
07:53We know how they have behaved, and that's probably what is lying behind.
07:58On the other part of the show, there's Israel itself, Netanyahu by himself,
08:07knowing that he is facing very serious accusations from the International Criminal Court
08:16regarding the crimes that he's being adjudicated at this time.
08:20And we know that he knows that he's facing those.
08:24Probably that could also mean, and I heard that coming from some specialists,
08:32that maybe Netanyahu in the end knows that he's going to be facing very serious issues at international tribunals.
08:43So that would probably mean that he wants to just get on with all these actions that he has proposed before.
08:56And that means also getting into war and direct opposition with his enemies,
09:01maybe because he knows that by the end he's not going to be in power anymore.
09:06Well, he probably will be facing something else.
09:09And this line that I'm saying at this time is some opinions from specialists that I've heard in Europe, basically,
09:19and in the International Criminal Court regarding Netanyahu's actions that cannot be completely understood.
09:27Do you believe, because following all these escalations, we have seen countries of the region,
09:32our Muslim Islamic countries that have come to unite, have presented a united front in support of Iran
09:37and calling for the immediate stop of the Israeli attacks and calling to the international community
09:43to exercise that pressure to bring a stop to these actions?
09:46And also from other countries from the South-South have also expressed their support
09:52for Iran's right to defend themselves following the Israeli aggressions.
09:57Do you think that in Iran, after the conflict settles,
10:01do you think it will have a lot of rebuilding to do, of course,
10:04but do you think it will become stronger, its position in the international radar,
10:09both politically and legally, will be reinforced?
10:14Well, I think we're facing very, very difficult times,
10:20and I'm not sure if I'm in a position to announce that.
10:26Why? Why am I saying this?
10:30Because definitely Iran has the right of legitimate defense.
10:35That's a right that every state has when it is under attack or under imminent threat of attack,
10:43and that's what has happened over here.
10:46So Iran has the right to defend itself.
10:48It is what it is doing right now.
10:54And this, of course, comes along with our support,
10:57because we know that what Israel did was an attack under a suspicious,
11:07because it was suspicious of nuclear activity in Iran,
11:11but it didn't have enough evidence to support that internationally.
11:15And if it was the case,
11:19and just let's imagine that Iran was using nuclear energy for wrongful acts,
11:26that is not the role of another state to come as police or to come as a judge
11:33or to come as a kind of imposed punishments
11:36and even violate the prohibition of the use of force
11:40in order to just attack another country
11:42because it has something going on
11:46and probably something wrongful.
11:48I mean, in this case, there's not any other state that has that right
11:52because there's no state that has more or better rights than others.
11:57So in this case, that calls for support, of course, of Iran.
12:01And Iran, we know that has the means to defend itself.
12:07But in the end, war is war,
12:09and that will only end up affecting the people, affecting the population.
12:14We know that people are getting displaced by now.
12:16People are getting killed by now.
12:18So in the end, it will only affect people.
12:21Regarding your question, as if Iran will come up stronger or no,
12:28probably it will in the face of how Israel is being seen
12:34towards the whole international scene
12:37because Israel right now, and I'm going to call it the way it is,
12:42it's committing genocide in Gaza.
12:44There's enough evidence to support that.
12:47Netanyahu is facing claims towards the International Criminal Court
12:54regarding crimes against humanity,
12:57and Israel has not stopped for almost a year and a half
13:02of attacking an unarmed state, unarmed people, killing civilians.
13:12So that is, I mean, Israel is not in a good position,
13:16in an international position.
13:18Israel is being seen as a genocide state,
13:20and in that case, if we are comparing Iran towards Israel
13:24in the international scenario,
13:27Iran will come up, I think, a little bit stronger
13:31regarding that.
13:32In the first place, it's defending itself
13:34because it was an unprecedented attack.
13:37And on the second place, it's towards a state
13:43that is already highly questioned in the international scene.
13:48So probably that will give more force to the supporters of Iran
13:53than what is happening with Israel.
13:58Thank you very much, Dr. Yvonne,
13:59for your time here in From the South and for all your inputs.
