The United States’ ulterior motives in Egypt

TEHRAN,July 17(MNA)--In his first term in office, U.S. President Barack Obama was unable to find a solution to the Palestinian issue and quickly understood that there is almost no hope for the efforts to establish peace. Certain developments in the Middle East distanced Obama from the Palestine-Israel conflict even more, and the United States began to try to manage the volatile situation in Arab countries in order to protect its interests. Now, it seems that the U.S. has moved into a new phase of its regional policy, which is meant to change the rules of the game in the region. The crisis in Egypt has provided an opportunity for the U.S. to implement its plan to alter the political landscape of the region. Washington envisions that the first results of this policy will be that the geopolitical advantages of Israel, which is the main proxy of the U.S. in the Middle East, will be better protected, and Iran’s growing influence in the region will be curtailed. When the unrest began in Egypt more than two years ago, the Westerners found a good opportunity to weaken Egypt’s position as a traditional power of the Arab world. For decades, Egypt, with its anti-Israeli and nationalist movements, has been a great challenge for the West, and a weakened Egypt would certainly reduce the threats to Israel. The U.S. and its allies hardly uttered a peep when the first freely elected government of Egypt was deposed in a coup d’état. During his one year in office, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was criticized by people inside and outside of the country, but his fall from power was the result of a U.S.-Israeli plot that gained the support of some reactionary Arab states in the region. The U.S. is fomenting discord in the Middle East as part of its general strategy to weaken the resistance against Israel. This tactic has always been a major component of the U.S. policy toward countries like Iraq and Libya, and Washington is currently using this tactic in Syria and Egypt. The incoming Iranian government is expected to devise strategies to counter the United States’ policy toward the Middle East. This will not only serve Iran’s interests in the region but will also safeguard the regional resistance against Israel. Nosratollah Tajik is a political analyst who formerly served as Iran’s ambassador to Jordan. (By Nosratollah Tajik )