“We Are in an Escalatory Cycle”: Trita Parsi on Latest Israeli Attack on Iran, Risk of Wider War

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has urged for a return to diplomacy and, quote, “maximum efforts to prevent an all-out regional war” after Israel bombed Iranian military facilities and air defense systems Saturday. The strikes included a site linked to Iran’s ballistic missile program. Iran said four soldiers were killed. Israel also struck air defense batteries and radars in Syria and Iraq.

The Iranian president said Iran would take an appropriate response to the attack but reiterated that Iran does not seek a wider war. Israel’s attack came about four weeks after Iran launched a missile attack on Israeli military sites in response to Israel’s mounting assault on Lebanon and Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah and Hamas leaders, the Hamas leader in Tehran, Iran, on Inauguration Day, where the Israelis killed him.

For more, we go to Washington, D.C., where we’re joined by Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, author of several books, including Losing an Enemy: Obama, Iran, and the Triumph of Diplomacy.

Trita, thanks so much for joining us for just these few minutes. If you can explain what took place this weekend and where you think where Iran and Israel will go next?

TRITA PARSI: Well, what happened over the weekend is the expected Israeli response to the Iranian response to Israel’s initial attack earlier on in April that started this whole exchange of fire between the two countries. What we don’t know, at least with confidence, is exactly how much damage the Israelis managed to cause in Iran. Clearly, there’s been some damage. There’s been at least five deaths. But the extent to which Iran’s air defenses have been taken out, etc., remains unclear. The Iranians initially played down the attack, signaled that they would not respond because it was not a significant attack, but the debate inside Iran seems to be shifting on that issue, precisely because of the deaths that has been caused by the Israelis.

The question the Iranians have is not only what options do they have that would avoid further escalation, but also how would it impact the American elections. Are they better off responding before or after the Iran elections? Is there a way for them to avoid responding at all, or would a lack of a response only further increase Israel’s appetite for striking Iran increasingly with impunity, if the Iranians are not striking back?

AMY GOODMAN: So, I wanted to ask you about Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’s response to Israel’s attack on Iran. She said she’d like to see deescalation in the region, but added, quote, “I feel very strongly, we as the United States feel very strongly that Iran must stop what it is doing in terms of the threat that it presents to the region and we will always defend Israel against any attacks by Iran in that way.” Your response?

TRITA PARSI: Well, it is exactly this type of approach that has led us to this level of escalation — on the one hand, saying that we don’t want to see escalation; on the other hand, providing the Israelis with every equipment, every bomb, every piece of intelligence that allows them to escalate, then offering them protection against any Iranian retaliation, which then reduces the cost of escalation for the Israelis. And lo and behold, here we are. The Israelis are just continuously escalating the situation, striking more and more. They are now striking five or six countries in the Middle East. And all the United States says is that we would not like to see escalation, but we are providing every opportunity and every equipment and every logistical piece of material in order for the Israelis to have an easier time escalating the situation.

AMY GOODMAN: And your response to The Washington Post report that the Biden administration won assurances from Israel that Israel will not strike Iranian nuclear or oil sites in any retaliatory act? Do you agree with what our previous guest, the Israeli professor Neve Gordon, said, that he is concerned that that’s just where Israel is headed, perhaps waiting for Election Day next week, and then would do something like that after?

TRITA PARSI: Absolutely. The signals coming out of Israel, the signals coming out of those in Washington who want Israel to go further, is to essentially say, “See, it was relatively easy to strike Iran. What are we waiting for? Let’s go all the way.” And moreover, as I said on this show before, just because the first response at this time now was not going after the nuclear sites, because we are on an escalatory cycle, does not then mean that we will not end up with strike against nuclear sites and a full-scale war that that would prompt. So, the point is, it’s not where the first step is; it’s where this is leading to that is important. And this, unfortunately, is leading, much thanks to the approach of the Biden administration, towards a much larger escalation.

AMY GOODMAN: So, finally, Trita Parsi, you’re the executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. What do you feel would be responsible statecraft right now?

TRITA PARSI: Right now the most responsible thing the United States could do, that would also lie in the U.S.’s own interests, is to actually pursue a strategy that truly deescalates the situation. Such a strategy would put pressure on all of the different parties, including of course the Iranians and the Houthis and Hezbollah, but it would also put pressure on Israel. And it would deprive Israel from all of the American bombs and all of the American material that the Biden administration has given them that allows them to just continue this war and to escalate this war. This is not terribly difficult to deescalate, if we actually pursue a strategy that is aimed at deescalation.

AMY GOODMAN: Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, author of several books, including Losing an Enemy: Obama, Iran, and the Triumph of Diplomacy.

When we come back, President Biden apologizes for government-run Native American boarding schools that sought to exterminate Indigenous culture. Back in 20 seconds.

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AMY GOODMAN: “Improvisation No. 3 in E for Two Flutes” by R. Carlos Nakai, a Native American flutist of Navajo and Ute heritage.