The so-called superpower USA is in between the devil and deep sea and is hesitant to attack Iran. The reason is apparent: the recent failure in ensuring the regime change in Syria and winning the proxy war on its soil with all fire and fury that has turned many cities of the country into heaps of debris. The recent debacles of American interventions abroad make even the most hawkish of the US policymakers to think twice before asking for an attack on Iran. However, the likes of John Bolton, National Security Adviser of Trump, leaves no stone unturned to invade Iran.

How come that Iran once CIA’s headquarter in Asia, and Americans enjoying a special status in Iran, once they entered into it, has turned into a thorn in the eyes of the US? Tour de history resolves the mystery. The USA thinks of Iran as a rival since the Iranian Revolution in 1979 led by Ayatollah Imam Khomeini.

The equation drastically changed in the region for the US after the clerics in Tehran refused to toe the American line. Since then, America had imposed an economic sanction with the apparent goal of bringing successive Iranian regimes down to their knees. Nevertheless, the Iranian governments and people had sustained US pressure. And this resilience on the part of Iran further frustrates the US.

While it is true that the US wishes a regime change in Tehran, but the question worth posing is who is afraid of Iran and why? Is it just America that wants Iran without the present regime? Or there are other actors as well that cannot stand the Iranian leadership? The answer to these questions is that a nexus of the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia is at play against Iran. Each one of these countries has their particular interests in the region for which all of them see Iran as the major obstacle.

It is Israel that considers Iran as a potential threat for its expansionist agenda in the Middle East. Israel has collaborators in all Arabs states in its neighbourhood, i.e., Egypt, Jordon, Iraq, Saudia Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE. But Iran has not so far submitted itself before Tel-Aviv.

Contrarily, Iran is providing moral support in a way or other, to all organisations that fight Israel’s expansionism: Hamas, Al-Fatah in Palestine and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Concerning Hezbollah, Israel has a bitter experience of war in 2006 and the results of that war deter Israel from attacking Iran.

Saudi Arabia also feels threaten from Tehran. Saudi Arabia fears that Tehran can attack her or topple the regime (kingdom). The KSA, being a holy place for Muslims, has a special status in the hearts of Muslims all over the world. Many think that the Saudi regime exploits the reverence of ordinary Muslims for these holy sites to prolong their brutal rule. At the same time, Riyadh also fears Iran for limiting its influence in the ME as the dominant player. The recent OIC conference is a glaring example of Saudi’s attempts to isolate Iran in the block of Muslim countries.

It is pertinent to mention that KSA has failed to play a positive in ending conflicts among Muslim states. It is not wrong to say that Saudi leadership, instead of unifying the Muslim countries divided them. Recently, in Syria, Riyadh provided every kind of help in creating Islamic State (IS) to overthrow the Assad Regime, thanks to the Russian and Iranian support to Assad.

The KSA did not benefit from this misadventure at all. What she achieved in the process of weakening the Syrian regime is a country marred by instability and civil war where civilians emerged as the only losers. Riyadh’s involvement in Syria benefitted only Israel. The recent announcement of Trump accepting Israel’s sovereignty over Golan Heights is nothing but confirmation to the fact that Israel has an expansionist agenda in the region.

Recently, tensions have heightened between Iran and the US, Israel, KSA nexus (undeclared Troika). The US has imposed more economic sanctions on Iran. The deployment of US marine in the Middle East and shooting down of US drone by Iran has created a war-like situation.

Not forgetting that the US President Trump only withheld retaliation at the last moment by rejecting the retaliatory proposal by the internal circles in the White House vexed the hawks in the present US administration. Frustrated by all these developments, John Bolton visited Israel to meet Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Prime Minister, to discuss alternative plans against Tehran.

Despite Trump’s earlier reluctance to retaliate against Iran, President Trump’s tweet that China, Japan and other countries’ oil is transported through Strait of Hormuz, therefore they should protect their economic interests themselves, shows that the US has not ruled out the possibility of taking military action against Tehran. The American army instalments that almost encircle Iran make the US more aggressive against Iran.

Though Israel wants to overthrow Iranian clergy, she, however, does not dare to attack Iran unilaterally because of expected retaliation by Iran and Hezbollah. Therefore, Israel is trying to instigate the US or KSA to start the war. Israel wants to join the fight later on if the other two countries in the troika start it.

Saudi Arabia has always supported Pakistan whenever Islamabad needed any support, morally, politically and financially. But the present situation in the Gulf region is a complex scenario for Pakistan. Pakistan has to be very careful while deciding how she will walk its path should any conflict arises when the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) – a 50 plus Muslim countries body – is virtually non-existent.

Nevertheless, the hawks in the US and the warmongers in the KSA and Israel should remember that Iran is not easy to target at all. Any adventurism against Iran will inflame the whole region. The heat of the fire against Iran will spread out to other countries in the region. A humanitarian crisis on an unprecedented scale will be the natural outcome of military action against Iran.

The KSA needs to revisit its foreign policy against Iran before the situation becomes so hostile that there is no point of return for the parties in the conflict. Any dispute that Saudi Arab and Iran become part of will only help Israel to work on her expansionist agenda. No Muslim country will benefit from this war. If it occurs to Saudi Arabia, even remotely, that the Zionists will accept her dominance in the ME, then the Kingdom is mistaken about the Zionist project.