The most intriguing question that arises after the March 5 interception of the arms vessel Klos-C by the Israeli navy in the Red Sea is whether Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, was aware of this smuggling operation and whether it was planned and authorized with his consent.
Over the past day, senior intelligence officials from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) were inclined to believe that Rouhani was not involved in the affair, becoming aware of it following the statement by the IDF spokesman on March 5. If this was indeed how the affair transpired, what we were seeing here is another episode in the political drama unfolding right now in Iran. This is a struggle between Iran of the ayatollahs and the Islamic Revolution and Iran as it would like to be seen in the future, namely a reformist country that’s yearning for international recognition, a Western embrace and acceptance by the family of nations. This Iran could be termed “Rouhani’s Iran,” but even that is not entirely certain. After all, Rouhani himself is counted among the masterminds of Iran’s nuclear program and its built-in subterfuges. What Israel calls this Iran is an Iran as Rouhani’s voters and followers would have liked to see.
