00:00Hello and welcome to this special broadcast on One India. What is transpiring in the Middle East
00:05is something that is unprecedented by all means and needless to say the attack of United States
00:11on Iran has opened up a can of worms so to say which is now spreading far and wide in
00:18the Middle
00:19East itself beyond the borders of Iran and possibly beyond the control of United States.
00:25To discuss the matters further, today we are joined by Dr. Wail Awad. He is a senior journalist
00:30and Middle East expert who joins us on the broadcast. Dr. Awad, thank you so much for
00:35speaking to One India. How are you today, sir? Thank you for having me. Okay. Great. Well,
00:42the very first question, Dr. Awad, that comes to our mind is the rationale behind the United States,
00:48the war calculus to attack Iran in this regard, in this fashion, in the very first place. What do
00:57you see the primary and the foremost reason? Well, I think there is no explanation, as you said,
01:04in this war, except that the American are doing it on behalf of Israel. There is not a war against
01:09the
01:09United States. There is no danger for the United States. And for a president to go for a war against
01:15the country, there has to be danger of American interests or American people are in danger from
01:21this country that they have to go for a war. So therefore, he went for this war because it was
01:26the Israeli prime minister who put President Trump on the front for going for this full-fledged war,
01:32despite the fact that even his military expert and Pentagon, they were advising him not to go for
01:39this war because of the danger that America may be facing. And yet he went because the United States
01:44become the stooge of Israeli prime minister Netanyahu. Right, obviously. So this retaliatory
01:51response then from Iran, do you think it is a coordinated national strategy for Tehran or a
01:58response which is influenced by its regional proxy networks if we are talking about United States
02:05and Israel put together? No, Iran have the legitimate right to defend itself because of the attack carried
02:14out by the American and by the Israelis, which is against the international law and it has been on
02:19for some time. So they have to pay the price. They have to defend themselves and they have the full
02:25right as per the United Nations charter, as per the UN charter, as per the international law to defend
02:32themselves. So America started the war along with Israel. Israel started this war. So they have to defend
02:37this themselves at the earliest. So Iran, without talking of proxy or non-proxy, currently none of the
02:44Iranian proxies have taken any initiative to stand with Iran in this war. So Iran is fighting it all by
02:51itself
02:51and they are causing lots of damage for the American bases in the region and also for the American
02:57installation and including the Israelis installation inside Israel and retaliation measure is going on
03:03right now. Right. Dr. Awad, one primary reason that Donald Trump mentioned clearly is the development
03:12and the manufacturing of nuclear weapons at the hands of Iran. Do you think after the removal,
03:19after the elimination of the supreme leader in Iran, this nuclear aspirations will be accelerated?
03:27Well, look, let me put it very bluntly for you. If it was the nuclear issue that the discussion was
03:34on in
03:34Oman and the progress was taking place, even the American admitted there was some progress and it was never
03:40been. It's just a pretext for the American to take over Iran oil and gas and natural resources, dismantle it
03:48in
03:48the ballistic missile program, kill their scientists and close the chapter of the Iranian nuclear civil use program.
03:57Because if you remember, even President Trump said during the 12 days war in Iran last year that he destroyed
04:03Iranian ambition of being developing or enriching uranium. So if you have already damaged it, Fankaj,
04:10why did you have to go for another war and I'm saying that it is because of the Iranian nuclear?
04:16So nuclear has nothing to do
04:18with the issues. The issue is bigger and far more than the American themselves understand, because it is two wars
04:24fought here,
04:25actually. One fought this war on behalf of the Israelis to determine and maintain the dominance
04:33of Israeli in the region, the hegemony of militarily, economically and politically. And the second war, which the
04:41American is fighting, is fighting with the superpowers, the control of the passage of global trade in oil, whether it's
04:47the Strait of Hormuz, whether it's in the Red Sea or Mediterranean Sea. So once you control the Strait of
04:52Hormuz,
04:53you are controlling the oil and 12% of the trade from this part of oil, 60% of the
04:58oil comes from
04:59Strait of Hormuz, goes to India, China, Korea, Japan, Southeast Asian nation. So these are the countries
05:05depending on this oil. So once the American have the full control, then America, make America great is still
05:11ambitious plan for President Trump to make America first by only looting nation. They did it in
05:17Brunsvilla. They're doing it in Iran. Tomorrow he'll be in Greenland. He'll be in Nigeria, Algeria,
05:22name it. Whoever having oil and gas, America will be there.
05:26Right. Dr. Awad, oil is something that has been the bone of contention for United States and other
05:34countries to wherever it has gone to war. One very, you know, important reference that has come out
05:44is that of Saudi Arabia and the numerous calls that were made by MBS to President Trump before these
05:53attacks. Do you see any merit in this statement that this war has also been aggravated and started
06:01because or on behest of Saudi Arabia? I doubt it because Saudi Arabia was under tremendous criticism
06:09from the Graham, from the American senator who has been blaming the Mohammed bin Salman of siding with
06:18the Iranian and mediating and asking the American president not to go for a war along with Qatar and
06:25the UAE and the Oman. Most of the Arab Gulf countries were against the war. So therefore, to speak that
06:31Saudi
06:31Arabia wanted this war is just to create a rift between the two custodians of Islam, whether it is
06:40the Shia in Iran, whether it is the Sunni in Saudi Arabia. So this kind of dragging the countries into
06:48interfighting is nothing but an objective of the American and the Mossad to create it in this part of
06:53the world. I don't think the Saudis are interested in any war because once you see if the war is
06:59there and
07:00the Saudis are able to export their oil along with the Gulf countries, then you can make money.
07:05But now if you are sabotaging, closing all the pipelines and destroying their oil installation and
07:12export the site, then there will be a huge disadvantage. And therefore, the whole region will
07:18suffer. Nobody wants a war except you look at the whole region and the West Asia. If you look at
07:25it,
07:25none of the countries in West Asia, but Israel wanted to go for this war.
07:29Right. Coming back to Iran, sir. When we talk about the retaliation that Iran is undertaking as of now,
07:38the Middle East almost has become some sort of war theater. Now, economic stability,
07:47people's lives, movement across the nations in Middle East all has been impacted.
07:53Yes, Iran is justified in retaliating as it has been direct attack on its soil. But from your point
08:04of view, who has seen Middle East for, you know, changing over a period of two decades or more than
08:09that, do you think is this the only option that Iran had to attack the US allied countries?
08:17Look, it's not the Iranian who started this war, right? The American foreign policy in the region
08:22is based on the American Pentagon and the arm industry, which is happy to find more zone war
08:29zone to sell their arms. That's for the giant American company dictate the foreign policy of
08:34the United States. So the American policy have been there for decades regime changed by force. In fact,
08:40they have done it in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Syria, Libya, Sudan, Yemen, they have carried out all these
08:47regime change by force. And when Trump came to power, he himself was criticizing his
08:52pedestals. And he said, I don't want this policy of regime change by force. Yet, you could see that he
08:58did
08:58it himself. He attacked Iran, then he attacked now Iran again. And again, he is now going to Venezuela, and
09:05he will go
09:05tomorrow to Nigeria, and Algeria, and the Greenland, wherever there is oil. So the question here is,
09:11no matter, irrespective of who is in the White House, there will be always somebody of the Pentagon
09:17will be dictating the terms, who, what will be the next of the American foreign policy. So Iran
09:22have the full right of defending itself and already written and warned the Arab nations, actually,
09:28that any attack by the American forces on Iran, those military bases of presence in those countries
09:36is our legitimate target. And that's what the Iranian are doing so far. They said this is not under
09:42legitimacy of you, but it is under the American custodian. And that's why we are attacking.
09:48Right. One further question that has come to light, sir. The Tehran has issued a statement saying that
09:58it is an attack on the Shia community, the Shia leadership and also on the Muslim Islamic dignity.
10:07How significant do you think this narrative is in shaping Tehran's domestic legitimacy
10:14and foreign policy choices going ahead? You see, he was a religious leader, supreme leader for the
10:23Shia community. And he was respected and loved by the Shia community all over the world. Even the Sunni,
10:29in fact, they were respecting him. He never had a problem. He was very soft spoken person. He never
10:35created any problem ever since he's in power. He was having the supreme leadership in Iran. So targeting
10:41a leader, a religious leader, you are only fueling fundamentalism and extremism and retaliatory
10:47measure retribution against you anywhere in the world. So the American enjoyed carrying the
10:53terrorism tools in their hand to achieve their objective, political objective. And similarly now,
11:00by killing a religious leader is nothing but fueling and retaliatory measures where the American will have
11:06a pretext to stay back in this part permanently as long as there is oil and gas. So therefore,
11:11I think what they have done, they have done damage to the Iranian, no doubt about it, it's a big
11:18loss,
11:19but they have rallied behind their leadership, beyond their country, because none of the Iranians
11:24actually wanted to see their country destroyed or any foreign power taking over. They may have
11:29political differences and economical problems because of the regime, because of the government in Iran,
11:35but they never wanted another government or American or anybody to come and colonize them as they
11:41have been doing for centuries. All right. Dr. Awad, what about that significant but small
11:48community that is celebrating the killing of Khamenei, those who are burning posters and lighting
11:54cigarettes up? What message do you have for them? I think at the time of a grievance, such kind of
12:00behavior, irrespective of where you are, which religion you belong to, which country you belong to,
12:05you have to respect the sentiment of the people that is in the hand of God. And we should respect
12:11and have
12:12the at least sympathy with the grievance of the families and the people rather than celebrations,
12:18because if this happened to them tomorrow, it will happen to everybody. Also, this is a karma.
12:22Right. Dr. Awad, one final question before I let you go. When and if at all, do you see Russia
12:29and China
12:29China joining the bogey? They will not join. Nobody will come and fight your war. You have to defend
12:35yourself. You have to protect yourself. They may side when their own interest is in danger. And I
12:41think after Tehran, if Tehran falls, Moscow will be next and Beijing will be also there.
12:46All right. And surrender, is that an option? They will never surrender. Irina will never surrender.
12:52They have learned this. This is in their DNA. Even if they know they are losing the war,
12:56they will never surrender. They will cause you the pain, but they will never surrender.
13:01Dr. Vail Awad, senior journalist there. Thank you so much, sir, for speaking to One India. We
13:05really appreciate your time and your inputs here on our channel. Thank you so much.
13:10Thank you for having me. Thank you. Thank you.
13:15Subscribe to One India and never miss an update. Download the One India app now.
Comments