How'll Middle East Crisis End? Iran's Khamenei Wants Western Forces Out, Israeli Ex-PM Calls For The Final Blow

Hours after Iran fired a barrage of ballistic missiles targetting Israel’s military bases and threatened further attacks in case of retaliation, the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday said all conflicts in the Middle East would come to an end if the United States and European countries stopped interfering and left West Asia.

He said, “The root of the problem in our region, these conflicts and wars, is the presence of those who claim to advocate peace in the region. That is, the United States and some European countries.”

The US has increased its military presence in the Middle East by several thousand troops, sending an array of fighter jets and other aircraft to bolster the protection of US forces and allies. The decision brings the total number of American troops in the region to as many as 43,000, including more than a dozen warships.

The UK also has a major military base in Cyprus and UK fighter jets were involved in supporting Israel during Tuesday night’s attack, British media reported.

“If the villainy of the US and certain European countries is removed from this region, undoubtedly these conflicts and wars will be completely eliminated. Then the countries in the region can live together in peace, health, and prosperity,” Khamenei said.

Deeply Saddened

Khamenei expressed grief on the death of Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader and one of its founding members, Hassan Nasrallah, and said, “It deeply saddened me.”

Hezbollah confirmed on Saturday that Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in a southern suburb of Beirut.

The killing of the powerful militant group’s longtime leader sent shockwaves throughout Lebanon and the Middle East, where he has been a dominant political and military figure for more than three decades.

Nasrallah, linked by Israel to numerous deadly attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets, had been on Israel’s kill list for decades. His assassination is by far the biggest and most consequential of Israel’s targeted killings in years, and significantly escalates the war in the Middle East. Hezbollah is backed by Iran, Israel’s chief regional rival.

‘Israel’s Chance To Change Face Of Middle East’: Naftali Bennett

However, Israel’s former premier, Naftali Bennett, has a different point of view on the Middle East crisis and possible solutions to end it once and for all. He sees it as an opportunity for his country to change the face of the region. He said Prime Minister said Israel must act now and destroy Iran’s nuclear programme and energy facilities.

Sharing his views on social media platform X, Bennett wrote, “Israel has now its greatest opportunity in 50 years, to change the face of the Middle East. The leadership of Iran, which used to be good at chess, made a terrible mistake this evening. We must act now to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, its central energy facilities, and to fatally cripple this terrorist regime. To strike the head of the octopus of terror, that, in its cowardice, sent its tentacles (Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, etc.) to murder us, while the Ayatollahs sat safely in their palaces in Tehran.”

Iran unleashed its largest-ever attack on Israel, firing 200 ballistic missiles late Tuesday most of which were intercepted by anti-missile defenses employed by Israel, the United States, and Jordan, according to those countries’ governments. The massive attack has left a trail of destruction and forced Israelis to stay cooped up in shelters and evacuate their homes.

Chief of the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Mohammad Bagheri, told Press TV that the ballistic missile attack by Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force was in response to the July 31 killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh and IRGC commander Abbas Nilforoushan and the September 27 killing of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut.