© AP Photo / Michel Euler
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - President Joe Biden's administration is likely trying to keep Israel at bay until the US presidential election on November 5, considering surging gas prices from retaliatory strikes on Iran would impact potential voters, experts told Sputnik.
Biden last week said Israel has not yet determined how it will strike Iran but they should consider other options than targeting oil fields. The warning came after Iran launched a massive missile attack on Israel, calling it an act of self-defense.
"It is not hard to envisage a scenario where the world is plunged into a new energy crisis. All it would take is for Israel to continue on its current trajectory of reckless adventurism," former UK ambassador Peter Ford told Sputnik.
"Such actions would precipitate a meltdown of international oil markets where none would be spared from the ripple effects, not even the largely self-sufficient United States."
An Israeli strike on Kharg Island, Iran's main export hub, or some other key oil installation, "would light the blue touch paper," Ford added. Ford warned that Iran could target refineries in Bahrain, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia and/or block the Straits of Hormuz.
Covert Action magazine Managing Editor Jeremy Kuzmarov believes the surge in oil prices due to Israeli strikes on Iran would have calamitous repercussions for the economy.
"Oil prices may be on the rise and this will cause a further rise in consumer prices in many industries, compounding the rising cost of living, and could cause another recession. This could in turn provoke more political instability in the United States and around the world," Kuzmarov said.
Ford said the Biden administration and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris have been urging Israel not to strike Iran's oil facilities to prevent such a crisis, especially given the possible ramifications on the ballot box next month.
"Gas prices spiking crazily… is not what a US president or presidential candidate would want a matter of weeks before election day," Ford said.
Israeli Calculus
In a call on Wednesday, Biden underscored to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the need for a diplomatic arrangement between Israel and Lebanon and the importance of renewing diplomacy on Gaza, according to the White House.
Ford said although Netanyahu has eschewed US calls for restraint, the Israeli leader might have to consider the latest pleas more seriously.
"Until now Israel has not needed the United States to help it proactively, other than with arms shipments," Ford said. "Any strike on Iran, however, would require US technical assistance, intelligence specifically."
US assistance would likely be withheld and would especially apply if the Israelis were to plan a strike on Iran's civilian nuclear facilities, Ford said.
Ford pointed to an even more powerful reason for Israel to baulk at hitting Iran.
"Israel may not care less about avoiding a world energy crisis… but it cares very deeply about its own oil refineries. The thought of seeing these and neighboring towns turned into infernos by Iranian ballistic missiles will give even Netanyahu pause," Ford said.
Even so, Ford said it will be a miracle if Israel does not take some action against Iran, and Tehran declaring more serious counter strikes has raised the stakes.
"Which may mean a third round where Israel may yet cross Iran's red lines and we shall be back to a repeat of the energy crisis provoked by the West's sanctions on Russia over Ukraine," Ford said.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20241010/biden-v-bibi-us-aiming-to-prevent-israels-reckless-adventurism-from-sparking-oil-crisis-1120502344.html
Counter Information publish all articles following the Creative Commons rule creative commons. If you don't want your article to appear in this blog email me and I will remove it asap.
No comments:
Post a Comment