Israel’s real gripe is that Iran is a nationalist, non-vassal state with 90 million literate and educated people. If Iran is allowed to freely develop, it will become an economic and military superpower. Hence, permanent sanctions to hobble Iran. In the absence of diplomacy, Tehran has only one path left: war with Israel and U.S.
Nuclear Program
Israel has been carping for four decades about Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon. If the Indians, Paks, and Norks could develop nuclear devices in a few years, why would it take Iran, a nation of superior intellectual talent, industrial resources, and scientific expertise, four decades to build a bomb?
Israel’s Real Gripe with Iran
The real gripe is that Iran is a nation of about 90 million literate people, with a high percentage of STEM graduates. Iran has highly-educated and developed work force.
The land’s 1,648,195 sq. km (636,372 sq mi.) area is rich in minerals (iron, copper, gold, lithium, uranium, silver, etc.), and oil and gas. Despite four decades of sanctions, Iran has robust agricultural and manufacturing sectors. It manufactures “automobiles, electric appliances, telecommunications equipment, industrial machinery, paper, rubber products, steel, food products, wood and leather products, textiles, and pharmaceuticals” (ibid.). It has an aerospace program and aviation industry, and is years ahead of the United States, NATO, and Israel in the development of drones, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and air defense system. Iran’s space program has successfully placed satellites high in orbit.
If Iran were freed of crippling sanctions, it would develop and become an economic superpower, not just in the Middle East, but as ranked globally. This, Israel will never allow: (1) Israel wants to be the sole economic and military superpower in the Mideast; and (2) Iranians are nationalistic and will never be subservient to U.S. or Israel. Hence, regime change (e.g., Iraq) or regime collapse (e.g., Syria and Libya), and replacement of the Islamic Republic with a vassal state led by “King Reza Pahlavi.”
Vassal States
The U.S. has its vassal states: UK, EU, Canada, Australia, NZ, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Jordan, and Egypt, to name key vassals. Germany is an example of a vassal: Reichskanzler Olaf Scholz saw fit to (mildly) criticize Trump—perhaps knowing that he, Scholz, will be unemployed after 23 February—but stayed silent for two years after Joe Biden ordered the destruction of Germany’s economy by sabotaging the Nord Stream pipeline. Germany’s economy is in freefall without cheap Russian energy. But loyalty to Washington reigns supreme in Europe. Berlin, London, Paris, and Brussels enthusiastically-supported the fifteen-month genocide in Gaza. European vassals refuse to displease their U.S. master. Egypt and Jordan proved their vassalage. Erdogan, despite his bluster, acknowledged American suzerainty by continuing the flow of Azerbaijani oil & gas to Israel. But which side did Tehran pick during the Palestinian Genocide? Precisely.
Washington despises and fears independent states. Hence its opposition to China and Russia; and the U.S.-led proxy war against Russia. Washington, like Tel Aviv, opposes the Islamic Republic for charting an independent course. Iranian independence is epitomized by Ayatollah Khomeini’s mantra, “neither east nor west”: Iran was to be independent of the U.S./NATO bloc and Soviet/Warsaw Pact bloc.
The solution for Israel was simple. Israel prevented Iran from developing cordial economic relations with the east and the west. Tel Aviv’s goal for four decades has been to destroy Iran’s economy with permanent sanctions; and when the Islamic Republic collapsed, to replace it with a patsy who will be subservient to Tel Aviv and Washington. Tehran is aware of the game. But what will it do? Go to war?
Vassal-in-Waiting
Perspectives 
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