The world's media have once again reported that Iran is "close" to acquiring its own nuclear weapons. For example, Reuters recently reported, citing a confidential report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), that Iran allegedly has enough uranium enriched to 60 percent, which, if further enriched, would be enough to make three nuclear bombs. According to the IAEA classification, uranium must be enriched to 90 percent for weapons purposes and about 42 kg of material is "theoretically sufficient" for one atomic bomb, while Iran's stockpile of 60 percent enriched uranium has grown to 128.3 kg.

World public opinion is being "smoothly led" to the likelihood, if not of nuclear war, then of the use of nuclear weapons in the Middle East, which may well be presented as a "preventive strike" against Iran, which is "close to possessing nuclear weapons".

Israel is known to have nuclear weapons. Moreover, one of the ministers in Benjamin Netanyahu's government, Israel's Heritage Minister Amihai Eliyahu, who represents the far-right Otzma Yehudit ('Jewish Power') party in the coalition government, recently threatened to use a nuclear bomb in the Gaza Strip.

He even specified the purpose of such a threat - the expulsion of the Palestinian population, which he said should "either go to Ireland or to the desert". Eliyahu thus confirmed the well-known fact that Israel has nuclear weapons (which the Israeli government itself has not yet officially acknowledged). After this scandalous statement, the minister was "suspended" (temporarily). It is obvious that the Israeli public opinion is really inclined to the action of "nuclear intimidation" of both the Palestinians and the Muslim world.

But the use of nuclear weapons in the Palestinian territories is dangerous first and foremost for Israel itself. The distances here are very short, the same Gaza Strip is literally an hour's drive from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and the radioactive contamination from the use of nuclear weapons here would affect most of Israel's territory.

But the Israeli hawks clearly want to sow "fear and trembling" in the Muslim world. And for this purpose, they may well be planning to detonate a nuclear bomb somewhere "far away" from Israel. Particularly in a desert area, so that "for the first time" there would be no major casualties among the civilian population, but at the same time they would be able to get spectacular pictures of the "nuclear mushroom" and "blow up" any military installation of their enemy.

And for these purposes, unfortunately, the Islamic Republic of Iran is "almost ideally suited", which, without actually helping the Palestinians in any way, has increased the intensity of its anti-Israeli rhetoric "to the limit" and has even "conditionally recruited" nearly 9 million "potential volunteers" for war with Israel. Today, many analysts say that war between Israel and Iran is almost inevitable. The same goes for the fact that in this war Israel will be clearly supported by the USA.

It should also be noted that the US war against Israel was "already expected" at the beginning of 2020. It was "miraculously" prevented by the allegedly "accidental" and "mistaken" shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger plane near Tehran, after which the military hysteria on both sides came to an abrupt halt, as if on cue.

Then, as we know, there was a global coronavirus epidemic, then the attention of the world community shifted to the Russian Federation's war against Ukraine... And now, tensions have 'returned' to the Middle East, with the prospect of war against Iran.

Retired Russian Colonel General Ivashov recently stated that such a war is more than likely and that it may be nuclear.

According to him, "Iran is behaving very cautiously. It is clear that Iran's spiritual and political leadership does not want to get involved in this war. They have been under sanctions for 40 years. They are determined to develop the country. Hamas is not their fiefdom. That's why they are holding back Hezbollah, the special forces. But Israel and the United States are very ready for a nuclear war.

The Israelis have up to 400 nuclear warheads, which don't pay them any dividends. And the Jews are a trading nation, they have to make a profit. They want to massacre the Arabs and their main enemy, Iran. At the same time, Biden and the so-called Democrats have a chance if a powerful nuclear strike is launched against Iran," Leonid Ivashov said

.

It should be remembered that Trump, Biden's main rival, is even more "bellicose" and anti-Iranian, having almost brought the matter to war in 2020. Obviously, the war against Iran is also becoming a factor in the power struggle in the United States, where both sides - Democrats and Republicans - will compete in their "bellicosity".

"If there are nuclear strikes on Iran, Biden has a chance of winning the presidential election. I don't see anyone else," says Leonid Ivashov.

Leonid Ivashov's predictions should be listened to, not only because he was the head of the Main Directorate for International Military Cooperation of the Russian Ministry of Defence from 1996 to 2001, and has held other high positions in the Ministry of Defence.  He is the only high-ranking Russian military officer, albeit retired, who spoke out openly and strongly against the aggression being prepared against Ukraine at the end of January 2022.

At the time, Leonid Ivashov, acting as chairman of the All-Russian Officers' Assembly, issued an appeal against Russia's war with Ukraine. As Ivashov pointed out in January 2022, the use of military force against Ukraine would: "Firstly, it will call into question the very existence of Russia as a state; secondly, it will make Russians and Ukrainians mortal enemies forever... Moreover, Russia will be clearly included in the category of countries that threaten peace and international security, will be subject to the heaviest sanctions, and will become a pariah of the world community."

Everything went almost exactly as Leonid Ivashov had predicted. And even worse for the Russian Federation than he had originally predicted, as he himself admitted a year after his speech.

"What happened in the end? Basically what we expected, but much worse. At the operational and tactical level, we did not think that we would not be able to liberate Donetsk and Luhansk within a year. We did not think that there would be such heavy losses, although at the time I spoke of tens of thousands of dead on both sides. But everything turned out to be much worse. We did not think there would be such destruction: indeed, whole small towns and villages were burnt to the ground. I also wrote that we would end up as a pariah state, but frankly, I did not think that we would not have a single ally with any serious influence on the political, economic, or military-technical level.

Finally, we did not expect that this situation would lead China and the United States to such a rapprochement... At the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China, the idea that China, together with the United States, is responsible for the world order on our planet was proclaimed and is already being implemented. Russia is not mentioned at all as a political player in this worldview. So now they are going to create a bipolar world, but without our participation," said Leonid Ivashov in his interview with Republic in February 2023.

And General Ivashov's words about China are literally confirmed - the visit of China's traitor Xi Jinping to San Francisco on 15 November 2023 and his meeting with Joe Biden is just one indicator of the rapprochement between the US and China. According to media reports, Xi Jinping agreed with Joe Biden to restore direct communication between the two countries' militaries and to expand relations in general.

There is no doubt that the parties discussed the Iranian issue or rather China's likely 'withdrawal' from supporting Iran in the event of a major war.

The situation for the Iranian regime is serious. It is clearly being used as a whipping boy. Possibly nuclear.

George Kvinitadze