Middle East tensions abound even after UN meeting

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The United Nations' top court has issued an interim order to the United States to ease sanctions against Iran on Wednesday. The ruling by the International Court of Justice focused on sanctions linked to humanitarian goods and civil aviation. The US had argued the court had no jurisdiction in the case since it concerned US national security. Trump administration officials said they weren't bound by and the court has no power to enforce its decision.

US President Donald Trump speaks during the United Nations Security Council briefing on counterproliferation at the United Nations in New York on the second day of the UN General Assembly September 26, 2018./VCG Photo

Words from the court came just days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Europe of appeasing Iran. He warned that despite the 2015 agreement, Tehran still harbors nuclear ambitions and that IAEA(International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA)) should inspect Iran's atomic warehouse immediately.

"Disclosing for the first time that Iran has another secret facility in Tehran, a secret atomic warehouse for storing massive amounts of equipments and materials from Iran's secret weapons program," said Benjamin Netanyahu.

When asked about whether Iran has secret hidden missile sites in Beirut, Israeli Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ofir Gendelman confirmed that Iran is building precision guided missiles in Beirut, Lebanon.

"Iran wants to develop an arsenal of precision-guided missiles in order to strike my country," said Ofir Gendelman. He also claimed that Iran is working on developing nuclear weapons and threatening to destroy Israel every single day.

"Iran has tried to carry out terrorist attacks on European soil, it has tried to kill European citizens and what these countries are doing is actually supporting this horrible terrorists regime," said Ofir Gendelman. "The whole international community needs to wake up now before it's way too late."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Prime addresses the General Assembly at the United Nations in New York September 27, 2018. Netanyahu on Thursday claimed that Iran had a secret atomic warehouse in Tehran, holding up a map and a photograph of an outwardly innocuous looking building. /VCG Photo

Ofir Gendelman stated that Israel has informed the IAEA and the international community with clear evidences. However, every member but the US of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action(JCPOA)()admitted that Iran is in complete compliance with the deal.

Talking about what Israel will do in the future, Ofir Gendelman said Israel will do anything that is necessary to defend their country, but these actions remained defensive.

Kaveh Afrasiabi, an author and former adviser to the Iranian nuclear negotiating team, said that the action aimed at the issue the ruling of easing sanctions against Iran regarding humanitarian goods and civil aviation is a good initial victory for Iran in a long arduous legal battle. "This ruling, in my opinion, is a landmark ruling that benefits Iran and the international community that is facing unlawful treatment from the Trump administration," said Kaveh Afrasiabi.

During the United Nations General Assembly last month the US President Trump said that he supports ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through the "two-state solution" believing this is the best way to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Palestinians run after Israeli forces' intervention with tear gas canisters during a demonstration within 'Great March of Return' in Beit Lahia, Gaza on September 24, 2018./VCG Photo

"Israel has to have the dominant military power overriding, otherwise that place will be taken over by Islamist terrorists, ISIS or Hamas," said Prime Minister Netanyahu, responding to Trump's comments with a second thought.

When asked about this issue, a former spokesperson for the United Nations, Abdelhamid Siyamis said Palestinians would not accept the idea. Historically, Japan and Germany also had similar military conflicts with Israel after World War Two. However, Siyamis suggested that it is inappropriate to compare the present confrontation with Palestine with those two. Therefore, even though Israel has the support of the US, Palestine will not back down on this issue.

As for the issue of US pulling out of the deal, an author and former adviser to the Iranian nuclear negotiating team, Kaveh Afrasiabi stated that the signatories would not be stressed out about it. Europe, in particular, came up with imaginative financial mechanisms in order to safeguard and preserve the Iran nuclear deal which is in the interest of the international community.

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