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Netanyahu raising alarm on Iran, again

Israel has told US and Russian officials that Iran’s long-term strategies and its missile capabilities endanger the region.
Iranian soldiers march during a parade marking the country's Army Day, on April 18, 2017, in Tehran. / AFP PHOTO / ATTA KENARE        (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)
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“Don’t worry about us,” an Israeli security official told his American counterparts while visiting Washington. Speaking to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, he described his exchanges with senior US security officials: “We will be all right. We’re strong, we’ve seen greater challenges than this. Think what would happen to all your allies. What would happen to Saudi Arabia, what would happen to Jordan. Think what could happen to the Gulf states, to Egypt. There’s no vacuum in the Middle East. Victory over the Islamic State [IS] won’t make the Sunnis disappear. It will only strengthen their will for revenge and make you miss IS.”

Another Israeli security official had spoken to the Americans in the same vein, explained the source. “Take heed,” this second official told the Americans. “A few days before President Donald Trump arrived for his visit in Saudi Arabia in May, the rebels in Yemen fired missiles toward Riyadh. It’s a clear message. The Iranians are already building the capacity to strike with surface-to-surface missiles across a huge belt in the region, which will strike fear among the Sunni regimes. Do you think the king of Jordan would survive this? That stability in Saudi Arabia will be maintained? Do you think that the determination and unity Israel has shown for all these years will also be the lot of the Sunni states, including the fragile and wobbling regimes?

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