Iran responded with remarkable effectiveness to the dastardly sneak attack by Israel

Tehran (Qodsna)- The Zionist regime launched an all-out aggression on Iranian soil on June 13, striking various military and nuclear sites and assassinating top-ranking military commanders and nuclear scientists, as well as ordinary civilians.

The Iranian Armed Forces, in response, pounded the regime and its military and industrial infrastructure, using new-generation missiles that pierced through Israel's multilayered anti-missile system and hit their designated targets.

The United States inserted itself into Zionist regime’s war against Iran, bombing three of the Islamic Republic’s key nuclear sites.

Zionist regime and United Sates blatantly violated UN Charter in attack against Islamic Republic of Iran.

The martyr of more than one thousand Iranians has been confirmed in Zionist regime’s attacks on Iran. More than half of the victims were ordinary citizens and non-combatants.

Zionist regime unilaterally halted its aggression on Iran after US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire, which, according to his former advisor Steve Bannon, Tel Aviv had to accept to “save” itself as the aggression it launched exceeded its capabilities.

Many experts and international bodies have condemned recent Israeli and U.S. strikes on Iran, calling them a violation of the United Nations Charter and a threat to regional and global stability.

On this side, Qods News Agency interviewed with a Kevin Barrett, Islamic scholar and former American academic.  

The interview comes as follows:

 Qodsna: Iran reserves right to defend itself legitimately. What is your take on Iran’s punitive response to Israel and U.S, especially in terms of international laws?

Kevin Barrett: After the dastardly sneak attack by Israel (with the connivance of the US and IAEA) Iran responded with remarkable effectiveness, breaking through the Zionists’ famous “Iron Dome” and delivering missiles to a wide range of targets in Occupied Palestine. After one week it was clear Israel was in trouble. Iran destroyed Mossad headquarters, Israel’s biggest oil refinery, the Weizmann Institute of Science, the “Israeli Pentagon” at Kirya, and seriously damaged a long list of targets, including the highly protected Nevatim Airbase, which the Zionists had claimed was impregnable. A week later, the Zionists panicked and called in the US, which ineffectively bombed Iranian nuclear sites as a ploy to get a ceasefire. Iran responded by hitting the American al-Udeid base in Qatar before accepting a ceasefire.

Under international law, Iran was fully within its rights to retaliate against both Israel and the US for their completely unprovoked attacks. Under Article 51 of the United Nations charter, a nation may retaliate with proportionate force if it has been attacked. Interestingly, the UN Charter echoes Qur’anic guidance (2:192) by insisting that the retaliation must end once the aggressors cease aggressing.

The key requirements for defensive strikes under international law, necessity and proportionality, were clearly met by Iran. Israel’s sneak attack—aided by Trump’s fake diplomacy and the IAEA’s connivance in issuing a deceptive ruling on the eve of the attack—caused the martyrdom of over 1000 Iranians including Revolutionary Guards chief Gen. Hossein Salami and the head of the Guard’s ballistic missile program, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh. Israel deliberately murdered hundreds of Iranian civilians as it destroyed entire residential complexes in order to target a single Iranian officer or scientist.

Iran followed Qur’anic rules by retaliating against military and strategic targets, not civilians. That retaliation was so devastating that the Zionists quickly sought an exit. Even Western media sources, including CNN, Foreign Policy  and Zionist-owned Popular Mechanics, admit that Iran won. Trump is threatening to prosecute two of America’s biggest news outlets, The New York Times and CNN, because they have accurately reported that Trump’s attack on Iran was ineffective.

Iran’s devastation of Israeli strategic targets represents the first time in history that the Zionist entity has been damaged and defeated in such a major way. Israelis now know that their defenses against Iran’s rockets are ineffective, and that Iran can essentially destroy Israel at will (but will not do so all at once since that would likely provoke nuclear retaliation). Former Israeli footballer Alon Mizrahi expects that Netanyahu’s government will invite even more punishment by attacking Iran again:

"The next phase of this war is going to be much more devastating for Israel. It is going to be so devastating, it's going to disrupt the country completely. It's going to bring the country to a standstill. It's going to make it impossible for the IDF to command its divisions and battalions. Because every command center is going to be hit in a devastating, destructive way. With the big missiles, not the small missiles that we have seen mostly this far...And basically Israel will cease to function as a country."

Qodsna: Palestinians in the blockaded Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank as well as occupied al-Quds have welcomed the Iranian retaliatory operation against the Zionist regime. Resistance movements including Palestinian movements have hailed the Iranian response. How do you assess the impact of Iran's attacks on Israel on the resistance forces?

Kevin Barrett: Iran’s devastation of Israeli strategic targets represents the first time in history that the Zionist entity has been damaged and defeated in such a major way. Israelis now know that their defenses against Iran’s rockets are ineffective, and that Iran can essentially destroy Israel at will (but will not do so all at once since that would likely provoke nuclear retaliation). Former Israeli footballer Alon Mizrahi expects that Netanyahu’s government will invite even more punishment by attacking Iran again:

"The next phase of this war is going to be much more devastating for Israel. It is going to be so devastating, it's going to disrupt the country completely. It's going to bring the country to a standstill. It's going to make it impossible for the IDF to command its divisions and battalions. Because every command center is going to be hit in a devastating, destructive way. With the big missiles, not the small missiles that we have seen mostly this far...And basically Israel will cease to function as a country."

Palestinians were overjoyed by the “Iranian fireworks” raining down on their occupiers. Mizrahi expects that after Netanyahu attacks Iran again and Israel is hammered by even more Iranian rockets than in the first round, Palestinians will rise up in another intifada, Hezbollah will return to the fight, and ultimately the Zionist entity will be defeated.

Whether or not that prediction comes true, Palestinians have been heartened and encouraged by Iran’s success against the genocidal Zionists, and will no doubt redouble their efforts to liberate their country from occupation.

Qodsna: Zionist regime continues the war on Palestine, Iran, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and region. Why is the international community not doing anything to stop the crimes of the Zionist regime?

Kevin Barrett: The Zionist regime has the full support of the institutions that rule the West, beginning with the world of finance, which is dominated by extremely wealthy ethnic (but often non-religious) Jews who are loyal to Israel. The stranglehold of Zionist Jews on Western banking and finance has allowed them to buy up the media and bribe the politicians. Along with bribery, the Zionists also excel at blackmail. Jeffrey Epstein exemplified Israeli Mossad blackmail, but he was far from the only blackmailer whose job is to entrap and control powerful Western politicians and other leaders and force them to do Israel’s bidding.

So Western leaders are almost all under Zionist control. But ordinary people are beginning to rebel against those leaders. Polls show that the majority of Americans and Europeans now have an unfavorable view of Israel. That is a remarkable change. Just a few years ago Western majorities supported the Zionists. It seems that the world’s first live-streamed genocide has had an impact on public opinion.

As Western public opinion continues to turn against the Zionists, and as the Global South rises, it seems highly likely that the international community of the future will finally put an end to Zionist impunity—and to the genocidal settler colony squatting in occupied Palestine. The only question is how long that process will take, and how bloody it will be.