Talk out US-Iran dispute - Daily Nation

In May last year, President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, greatly offending the Islamic republic. He then imposed new sanctions on Iran because it “did not go far enough” to restrict its deadly arsenal programme. The result is ever-heightening tension in the Gulf as Iran embarks on a uranium enrichment programme in a bid to attain the nuclear state status. Feeling threatened, Iran sees sharpening its military edge as the best option.

There have been many worrying incidents. The US called off air strikes, at the last minute, on Iran, which had downed an American drone, and Washington has blamed Tehran for attacks on tanker ships, including a British one. Iranian vessels have not been spared either. Oil prices are on the upsurge.

To Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Iran’s hostile neighbour, Israel, Europe’s approach to Iran’s recent breaches of a 2015 deal was like the appeasement of Nazi Germany. Gracefully, the European parties to the 2015 deal have restrained themselves and remained steadfast in the hope that dialogue, rather than an arms race, promises a better way out for both Washington and Tehran, on the one hand, and the entire humanity on the hand.

London, reacting to last week’s seizure of its oil tanker by the Iranian Revolutionary Forces in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, has reiterated that its priority is to de-escalate tensions with Iran in the Gulf inasmuch as it was considering several options to secure the release of the Stena Impero and its crew.

Military confrontation in the Gulf, or elsewhere, by the parties to the current dispute would have far-reaching ramifications. The world has been there before and all energies must be deployed to resolving the US-Iran dispute amicably.