THE Middle East is never stable, even at the best of times.
Syria’s on-going civil war has provoked strong reactions, not only in the region, but around the world.
Now, Israel claims that Iran has been developing a secret nuclear weapons’ programme, which merits careful examination.
In an astonishing intelligence coup, Israel’s Mossad stole and published 55,000 documents detailing Tehran’s Project Amad.
Hardline Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu says they are evidence that Iran lied during negotiations over the controversial nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Signatories, the five members of the UN Security Council and Germany, all strenuously support the agreement.
They say most of the information presented by Israel was at least 15 years old and that Iran’s nuclear weapons’ development ended in 2003.
Our own Foreign Office Minister, Alistair Burt, says we are not naïve about Iran, but that the deal helps to keep peace in the region.
However, the US President and his new Secretary of State, Mike Pompao, agree with Israel and believe the deal should be dumped.
Mr Trump has set a deadline for 12 May.
He says that despite the JCPOA’s rigorous inspection regime, it still allows the Iranians time to hide their covert activities.
Also, there’s evidence that Iran continues to work on its ballistic missile capability, which could be used to deliver nuclear weapons.
However, scrapping the deal would surely exacerbate an already inflammatory situation.
Let’s not forget that Israel and Iran are enemies.
With the former having launched air strikes at an Iranian base in Syria only days ago, and commentators warning of a war if the US pulls out of the ‘deal’, it seems that peace will continue to elude the Middle East.