KARACHI:
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in his last address, disclosed that Iran was supplying arms and providing training facilities to the internationally militant group, Al-Qaeda. He even went as far as to say that the group was settled permanently and had its headquarters in the country. However, the credibility of the information still remains dubious. The Foreign Minister of Iran recently tweeted that all such allegations made by the Trump administration are completely baseless as the US has always wanted to malign the country through their war-mongering tactics.
If one is to analyse the whole situation, there can be two solid motives behind the US so adamantly accusing Iran. Firstly, the Trump administration may be preparing its citizens for a possible offence launched against Iran in its last days at the White House. A similar concern was earlier raised by Speaker Nancy Pelosi when she tried to stop the top generals from providing the President with nuclear codes. Secondly, perhaps the outgoing US government may be trying to make it hard for President-elect Joe Biden to resurrect the JCPOA. The latter favoured to re-engage Iran in the nuclear deal in his presidential campaign, therefore harsh allegations levelled against Iran would serve as a stumbling block in revival of the deal.
In any of the two possibilities, the remaking of the nuclear agreement would be an arduous task that will take a lot of mutual cooperation to carry out. Only time can tell what will happen. But regardless of continuous back and forth allegations, it is important that both countries remain within a certain boundary so as to avoid a war-like situation.
Noor-e-Ellahi
Shikarpur
Published in The Express Tribune, January 15th, 2021.
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