Blinken also met Israeli President Isaac Herzog following talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

New Delhi:

The Israeli military has released footage of what it claims to be the bunker of ex Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, which he occupied during the first half of the ongoing Gaza conflict. Sinwar, known as the mastermind behind the brutal October 7 attacks, was allegedly prepared to ride out the war with a stash of cash, cologne, and personal comforts in a fully-stocked bunker under the ravaged city of Khan Younis.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) shared video footage that details the inside of Sinwar’s underground hideout. The video shows a well-equipped bunker, complete with modern showers, several bathrooms, and a fully functional kitchen, stocked with food rations labelled with the United Nations Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA) logo. 

Sinwar, 61, had taken refuge in the bunker with his guards and close associates as the war above ground escalated. The footage shows a bag of UNRWA-supplied food, reinforcing Israel’s longstanding accusation that Hamas steals from international agencies, exacerbating the already dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The IDF has released footage showing their entry into Sinwar’s bunker, where UNWRA bags and millions of shekels were found.

Sinwar and other Hamas leaders have been siphoning billions from the people of Gaza, allegedly with @UNWRA‘s involvement.

pic.twitter.com/ZRcr5UWKmF

— David Saranga (@DavidSaranga) October 20, 2024

The bunker contained multiple bottles of cologne, hygiene supplies, and even a private shower. According to an IDF soldier giving the tour of the bunker, Sinwar’s personal quarters included a large safe filled with millions of Israeli shekels.

Next to the door of the bunker, soldiers found lockers filled with a cache of weapons, ammunition, and explosives.

Sinwar had fled the bunker before the IDF could capture him. Reports suggest that Sinwar initially stayed in Khan Younis before being forced to flee further south to Rafah as the Israeli military closed in on his position. It was in Rafah, where Sinwar’s luck finally ran out. Last Thursday, Israeli soldiers killed him in a strike during what they described as a “routine operation”. The IDF initially believed they had encountered just another Hamas fighter before later identifying Sinwar as one of the casualties.

According to Israeli sources, Sinwar had spent much of the war hiding underground, directing Hamas operations and attempting to evade capture. Sinwar’s wife, Abu Zamar, was reportedly carrying a Rs 28 lakh ($32,000) Hermes Birkin bag during their escape.

After months of searching, Sinwar’s fate was sealed when an IDF patrol stumbled upon him in Rafah. Sinwar, cornered and injured in a demolished building, was caught on drone footage in his final moments. The video showed Sinwar, covered in dust and with one hand severely injured, hurling an object-believed to be a stick-at an approaching Israeli drone.

An Israeli autopsy confirmed that Sinwar died from a gunshot wound to the head.

A screengrab from a handout video shows what the Israeli Army says is recently killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar walking through a tunnel before the October 7 attacks, in this screengrab obtained by Reuters, released on October 19, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The Israeli Army on Saturday (October 19, 2024) released footage it said showed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar preparing for a prolonged stay underground in Gaza hours before the Palestinian group launched its October 7 attack.

Sinwar, then Hamas’s top figure in the Gaza Strip, is accused of masterminding the unprecedented attack last year that triggered the ongoing war. He was killed by Israeli forces earlier this week.

The footage released by the Israeli military showed Sinwar with his wife and children in a tunnel that Army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said was under the family home in Khan Yunis.

“You can see how Sinwar and his family members escape to an underground compound under their house on the night of October 6, just hours before the brutal massacre,” Mr. Hagari told a televised briefing while showing the grainy footage.

Sinwar, wearing a plain t-shirt, is seen walking through the tunnel with his two children and wife.

“They are alone for hours. Sinwar and his son go up and down, equipping themselves with plates of food, water, pillows, a plasma screen, mattresses and other products for a long stay,” said Mr. Hagari.

The spokesman showed images of the underground compound which had toilets, showers and a kitchen. He said food, cash and some documents were also found there.

The release of the video comes days after Sinwar was killed by troops in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, in a firefight that ended with the Hamas leader cornered and alone in a destroyed building.

Drone footage, also released by the Israeli military after his death, showed an apparently injured Sinwar throwing an object at the drone in his final moments.

The military has also shared footage showing an Israeli tank firing on the building Sinwar was said to be in.

‘Underground fortress’

The New York Times reported that an Israeli autopsy found that Sinwar was killed by a gunshot to the head.

“Sinwar built an underground fortress in his hometown of Khan Yunis. There he hid and continued to launch the attack,” Mr. Hagari said in his Saturday briefing.

Israeli forces had almost closed on him several times during the war, but he managed to escape, Mr. Hagari said.

“For the vast majority of time Sinwar hid underground between Khan Yunis and Rafah,” he said of southern Gaza’s two main cities.

Israel had identified Sinwar’s final hiding after the military found “his DNA sample on a tissue with which he blew his nose,” said Mr. Hagari.

Hamas dismissed as “blatant lies” Mr. Hagari’s remarks suggesting that Sinwar had gone into hiding and prioritised his family’s well-being over that of other Gazans.

“Commander Yahya Sinwar was martyred after heroically engaging in battle, having led the greatest battle in the history of our Palestinian people,” a Hamas statement said.

According to the military, an Israeli patrol encountered Sinwar and two other militants by chance on Wednesday, and as they were chased by soldiers, Sinwar split from the other two.

The military said a tank later fired at the building where Sinwar took cover.

Footage released by the military shortly after Sinwar’s death was announced on Thursday showed him covered in dust, sitting in an armchair and staring down a drone as it entered the building, much of it in ruins.

The footage showed Sinwar alone with one hand severely injured and his head covered in a traditional scarf, throwing a stick at the approaching drone.

“This is actually the first time that Sinwar, who had been hiding underground for a year, met the IDF (army) forces in Gaza and this is also the moment when he was eliminated,” Mr. Hagari said on Saturday.

“Sinwar lived and behaved like a wanted terrorist.”

The Hamas leader, who just months ago replaced his slain predecessor Ismail Haniyeh, had not been seen in public throughout the war.

New Delhi:

Israel on Saturday released footage showing Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar moving his belongings to a tunnel in Gaza hours before the October 7 attack last year that triggered the ongoing war.

The footage was released following Sinwar’s death in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, in a firefight that ended with the Hamas leader cornered and alone in a destroyed building.

The footage shows Sinwar and his wife and children moving belongings, including a television, water, pillows and mattresses, into the tunnel that Israeli army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said was located under the family home in Khan Younis.

DECLASSIFIED FOOTAGE:

Sinwar hours before the October 7 massacre: taking down his TV into his tunnel, hiding underneath his civilians, and preparing to watch his terrorists murder, kindap and rape. pic.twitter.com/wTAF9xAPLU

— LTC Nadav Shoshani (@LTC_Shoshani) October 19, 2024

During a press briefing, Hagari showed photos of the underground compound, which had toilets, showers and a kitchen. Food, cash and documents were also found there.

Hamas, meanwhile, said Sinwar died heroically engaging in battle, calling Hagar’s remarks “blatant lies”.

Drone footage from earlier this week showed Sinwar critically wounded in his last moments, throwing an object at the drone. Autopsy found that Sinwar was killed by a gunshot to the head, and also found one of his fingers was cut off.

During a year of the Israel-Hamas conflict, the Israel Defence Forces had often closed in on Sinwar, but the latter managed to escape. Israel had identified Sinwar’s final hiding after the military found “his DNA sample on a tissue with which he blew his nose,” said Hagari.

While the October 7 attack in Israel killed around 1,200 people and resulted in 235 people being taken hostage, the Israel operation in Gaza over a year has resulted in over 40,000 deaths.

The death of Sinwar, who had just months ago replaced slain predecessor Ismail Haniyeh, raises questions on who will lead the Hamas amid a war that has also drawn in Lebanon. Israeli attacks on Lebanon killed at least 2,350 people over the last year, according to the Lebanese health ministry, with more than 1.2 million people displaced. Hezbollah attacks have killed 50 Israeli soldiers and civilians, according to Israel.

New Delhi:

A drone was launched towards Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in the Israeli town of Caesarea on Saturday, hours after Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed.

Mr Netanyahu’s spokesperson said he was not in the vicinity and there were no casualties in the attack on his residence. “A UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) was launched toward the prime minister’s residence in Caesarea. The prime minister and his wife were not at the location, and there were no injuries in the incident,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement.

Earlier, the Israeli military had said that the drone was launched from Lebanon and it had hit a building. Two more drones that crossed into Israeli territory were intercepted, the military was quoted as saying by Reuters.

The drone attack was not immediately claimed by Hezbollah, which has been trading fire with Israel since last October, or any other militant group.

Israel is also fighting a war with Hamas ally Hezbollah in Lebanon. The two sides had exchanged rocket fire since the October 7 attack, with Israel sending ground troops across the Lebanese border last month.

The drone attack comes a day after the Israeli military said it had destroyed Hezbollah’s regional command centre with an air strike. Since late September, the war has left at least 1,418 people dead in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures, though the real toll is likely higher.

Meanwhile, Lebanese authorities said two people were killed in an Israeli strike on Saturday in Jounieh, north of Beirut, in the first strike on the area since Hezbollah and Israel started trading fire last year. The health ministry said an “Israeli enemy raid” hit a car in Jounieh, with Lebanese state media saying the attack occurred on a key highway linking the capital to the country’s north.

The tripartite conflict in Middle East is likely to see further intensification after Sinwar was killed in an Israeli operation in southern Gaza. Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 7 attacks which killed over 1,200 Israelis and brought more than 250 hostages into Gaza, took over as head of Hamas after the killing of its leader Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital Tehran.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. File
| Photo Credit: West Asia News Agency/Handout via Reuters

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Saturday (October 19, 2024), the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar will not halt the “Axis of Resistance” and that Hamas would live on.

“His loss is undoubtedly painful for the Axis of Resistance, but this front did not cease advancing with the martyrdom of prominent figures,” Mr. Khamenei said in a statement.

“Hamas is alive and will remain alive,” he added.

Doha, Qatar:

Israel’s killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar dealt a huge blow to the Palestinian group, and while it leaves a gaping void at the top of the movement, its militants remain determined to fight.

Sinwar masterminded the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war, and became the leader of Hamas in August after the death of his predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh.

While Israel has hailed Sinwar’s killing as a major win, analysts say Hamas could use his legacy to mobilise a new generation of militants, who grew up suffering the consequences of Israel’s retaliatory war.

Here is a look at what could come next for Hamas.

How harsh a blow?

Confirming Sinwar’s death in a video statement on Friday, Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya said the group was mourning the loss of its “great leader”.

Sinwar’s killing was not just “an extremely symbolic event” but created “a leadership vacuum in this very networked organisation”, Middle East analyst Andreas Krieg of King’s College London said.

His death comes little more than two months after the death in Iran of Hamas’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh.

Hamas and Iran have blamed Israel for Haniyeh’s death, though Israel has not offered comment.

Krieg said differences had emerged between Hamas’s political leadership, in exile mostly in Qatar, and the military and operational wings in Gaza.

In July Israel also said it killed Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif in Gaza, which Hamas has denied.

“Different cells of Hamas will continue fighting, but at the core of the movement, there’s a vacuum there, and that will make it very difficult to coordinate,” Krieg said.

James Dorsey, of the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute, said Sinwar was an “exceptional” figure in Hamas who enjoyed “broad support within the movement from both the political and the military wing”.

Who could replace Sinwar?

Following his predecessor’s death, Sinwar emerged from a field of contenders for the Hamas leadership that included relative moderates based outside of Gaza like Musa Abu Marzuk, an adviser and negotiator seen as close to Haniyeh.

Dorsey said other exiled Hamas figures like Qatar-based Hayya, close to Sinwar and lead negotiator in unsuccessful talks for a Gaza truce and hostage exchange, could once again become contenders for the top post.

Other exiled leaders who could take over, he said, include Khaled Meshaal, who served as Hamas chief until he was replaced by Haniyeh in 2017.

Sinwar’s selection as leader over members of its political wing in August was widely viewed as a restructuring of the movement around armed struggle, with the focus on the war in Gaza.

Krieg said “the next leader is inevitably going to be someone from the operational level”.

Should the leadership be handed to a man on the battlefield, one name has emerged as a favourite: that of Sinwar’s younger brother Mohammed Sinwar.

Krieg said the brother “doesn’t have the charismatic leadership appeal that Yahya had. But he has a good reputation… as a militant and fighter.”

Can Hamas recover?

In his defiant statement on Friday, Hayya said Sinwar’s death would help strengthen the movement, adding his killing had set him among “the leaders and symbols of the movement who preceded him”.

Krieg said that, despite a “tactical, operational defeat” for Hamas with the killing of its leader, Sinwar’s death was “not going to change armed resistance against Israel within Gaza”.

Dorsey said Hamas was a movement that had “as a matter of principle proven very resilient”.

“Hamas’s history… is a history of Israel assassinating its leaders. Yahya Sinwar joins the list,” he added.

The killed leader’s legacy would “obviously” be tied to the legacy of the October 7 attack, said Dorsey.

But whether the war sparked by the attack could continue to swell Hamas’s ranks has as much to do with the sheer levels of desperation in Gaza as it does with Sinwar.

“This is a generation that has lost all hope… certainly in Gaza. If you have no hope, you’ve got nothing and nowhere to go, you’ve got nothing to lose,” Dorsey said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, architect of the group’s cross-border raids in 2023 that became the deadliest day in Israel’s history, was killed in combat, Khalil Al-Hayya, deputy Gaza Hamas chief and the group’s chief negotiator, said on Friday.

Sinwar’s death, which follows Israeli assassinations of other Hamas leaders and commanders, will deal a huge blow to the Islamist group which has faced relentless air strikes since it attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.

It also dragged about 250 people back to Gaza, creating a hostage crisis for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government which has vowed to eliminate Hamas.

Sinwar will be remembered as a ruthless enforcer among Palestinians who collaborated with Israel and an implacable enemy of the country which jailed him for many years. Sinwar was named the group’s paramount leader on August 6, as a successor to former political chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran on July 31.

Widely known as the architect of the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, the most devastating event for Israel in decades, Sinwar has been in Gaza, defying Israeli attempts to kill him since the start of the war.

Born in a refugee camp in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, Sinwar, 62, was elected as Hamas’ leader in Gaza in 2017. The controversial leader, who spent half his adult life in Israeli prisons, was the most powerful Hamas leader left alive following the assassination of Haniyeh.

Won’t Release Hostages: Hamas

Hamas today said it won’t release hostages until Israel ends its war on Gaza, withdraws from the territory and frees jailed Palestinians. The hostages “will not return… unless the aggression against our people in Gaza stops, there is a complete withdrawal from it, and our heroic prisoners are released from the occupation’s prisons,” Khalil al-Haya said in a video statement, news agency AFP reported.

With inputs from Reuters and AFP

A senior Hamas official said the Palestinian group cannot be eliminated with the killing of its leaders, but stopped short of confirming the death of its chief, Yahya Sinwar.

“Hamas is a liberation movement led by people looking for freedom and dignity, and this cannot be eliminated,” Basem Naim, senior member of Hamas’s political bureau, told AFP.

In a statement, he listed several Hamas leaders killed in the past, and said their deaths had boosted the group’s popularity.

“It seems that Israel believes that killing our leaders means the end of our movement and the struggle of the Palestinian people,” Naim said.

“Hamas each time became stronger and more popular, and these leaders became an icon for future generations to continue the journey towards a free Palestine.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Cafes in bustling Central London are always full of tourists, of which many moneyed ones come from the Arab world. Once, I found myself deep in conversation with a young Saudi architect, who, in a moment of rare candour, shared his thoughts on what he termed the “slaughtering of Gazans” over the past year.

“We are in distress,” he sighed. “We young Saudis can see Gaza being flattened, but my country stays silent.” These are brave words from a Saudi, no doubt on foreign land. But then, it’s a country where the closest thing to freedom of speech is the freedom to agree with the monarch.

But what really made the conversation interesting was his view on Iran’s missile strike against Israel on October 1. “Iran is the only country standing up to Israel and America,” he said in admiration and relief. A Sunni Saudi praising a Shiite Iran is like an Iranian praising Israel. It should give Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman a sleepless night.

Two weeks ago, an avalanche of missiles rained down over Israeli skies, causing limited damage but sending shockwaves through the Muslim world. From Jakarta to Jenin, the celebrations were will –  people cheering as though it was Israel’s final defeat. Screams, slogans, sheer disbelief. Never mind that Israel’s inevitable retaliation, which is yet to come, could be even more spectacularly deadly. For them, the mere fact that someone – anyone – had dared to defy Israel was enough. Forget logic. This was emotional catharsis at its peak.

It is not surprising then that Tehran’s defiance against Israel and the US is making the Islamic Republic more popular across both the wider Shiite and Sunni communities. It is important to recall the 2006 Lebanese war, when Iran’s active support to Hezbollah against Israel generated a surge in support for Iran across the Muslim world.

Iran’s Soft Power

“The Iranian people’s revolution is just the beginning of the revolution for the entire Islamic world.” Those were the words of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the man who kickstarted the 1979 Iranian Revolution and essentially declared his intention to export Iran’s brand of Islamic revival far and wide.

While policymakers and analysts in the West tend to fixate on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its well-trained armed militias, they are really just scratching the surface. Sure, the IRGC’s militia network packs a punch, but that’s only one part of Iran’s influence. The real thing happens behind the scenes, where Iran has built a whole soft-power empire across West Asia – and beyond -thanks to its soft-power agencies. Under Iran’s current supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran has continued with its policy of exporting its revolution. In fact, the export of its ideology is enshrined in its Constitution implemented after the 1979 revolution.

What Iran cannot do militarily to Israel, it’s doing with its soft power. It has encircled the Jewish state with a web of entities deeply influenced by its ideology. It has cloned its ideology in Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen. Its ideological fingerprints are all over Syria and Iraq too. Additionally, Tehran’s influence is creeping into parts of the Gulf, with Bahrain, a Shia-majority country, being a notable example. It’s also trying to make inroads into Afghanistan and even in places like the Palestinian territories.  

And if you are looking for where else Iran’s revolution is spreading much beyond its boundaries, just visit the Shia majority Kargil in Kashmir. The life-size cutout of Khamenei outside a Shia mosque in the main town says it all.

By 2009, right in the middle of US and UN sanctions, Iran had completed around several hundred development projects in southern Lebanon – schools, religious centres, sports complexes, hospitals -you name it. And all of them conveniently spread Tehran’s Islamic ideology. 

The question is, why does Iran support Hamas and, more generally, all Palestinians, even though they are Sunni who have not accepted its Shia revolution? The answer is simple. The clerical regime asserts it is its Islamic duty to be the defender of what it believes is the oppressed people. To support the oppressed and oppose the oppressor is at the core of the Shia doctrine.

Shiite Doctrine Of Sacrifice

From the early years of Islam, the followers were divided into Sunni and Shia sects. The former enjoys the majority and the latter’s population is restricted to West Asia, Pakistan and India. Persia had a vibrant ancient culture. After embracing Shia Islam, the Persian pride in culture remains strong in Iran.

Urdu poet Allama Iqbal has summed up the spirit of Shiite martyrdom in this couplet: “Islam zinda hota hai har karbala ke baad” (Islam is revived after every Karbala-like tragedy). The Shiite spirit of martyrdom is deeply rooted in the tragedy of Karbala, where Imam Hussain, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, and his followers, were brutally killed in their stand against tyranny. This sacrifice is seen not just as a historical event but as a timeless symbol of resistance, justice, and self-sacrifice for a higher cause. In Shiite belief, martyrdom is the ultimate act of devotion and defiance against oppression, which has been encapsulated in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s ideology.

Therefore, US sanctions or Israeli attacks on its infrastructure only hardens a Shiite’s resolve to resist and defy. Take, for example, how over the last four years, the Israeli campaign against Iran, which has seen sabotage and attacks on nuclear and military facilities within Iran, assassinations of nuclear scientists and decorated military officers on Iranian soil and even elsewhere in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and other locations, have failed to deter Iran or Hezbollah from harming the Israeli cause.

Israel may launch an attack on Iran and destroy its oil fields or other infrastructure in retaliation to the October 1 attack, but it is quite possible it will only firm up the Shiite resolve to launch further attacks on Israel. It might become a never-ending cycle of violence 

The Competition To Win Over Muslims

Much before the Islamic Republic of Iran began exporting its ideology, it was Saudi Arabia that was engaged in winning the hearts and minds of the Muslim world. The export of Wahhabism gained momentum during King Faisal’s reign (1964-1975) and continued under subsequent monarchs. Its primary objective was to promote Wahhabism, support Muslim communities worldwide and counter Shia and Iranian influence. “The Wahhabi Mission and Saudi Arabia” by David Commins encapsulates the rise of Wahhabi ideology quite well. Wahhabism took an extreme form in some societies, which gave birth to entities such as the Taliban and Al Qaeda. There was no surprise in the fact that out of the 19 hijackers of planes in the 9/11 terror attack, 15 were Saudi nationals.

It is ironic then that the US would continue to nurture monarchs in Saudi Arabia. Of course, there is no denying that in recent years, Saudi Arabia has attempted to rebrand itself as a force against extremism, introducing reforms under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s ‘Vision 2030’. However, critics argue that these reforms are superficial and the underlying Wahhabi ideology remains intact.

Saudi Influence Wanes

Saudi Arabia was on the brink of signing the Abraham Accord with Israel before the deadly attack by Hamas on October 7 last year. Many in Muslim societies complain that Saudis appear to be doing nothing for the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. On the contrary, it is being accused of cold-shouldering the Palestinian issue. Clearly, with Iran positioned to take on powerful forces like Israel and America, Saudi Arabia is losing the battle of winning the hearts and minds of Muslims.

But West Asia is a complex region. Arabs, Turks and Persians are the largest ethnic or linguistic groups there. Together, they make up 90% of the region’s population. The Arab population is divided into over 20 countries. Turks and Iranians largely live in Turkey and Iran, respectively. Much of the current Arab countries and the land where Israel stands today were until the First World War part of the Ottoman Empire. So, Turkish influence in the region cannot be ignored. Turkey Muslims practise Sunni Islam but they are more moderate compared to the Saudi brand of Islam. Modern Turkey, under President Erdogan, is engaged in spreading its cultural and political influences across the Muslim world.

Iran Is Far From Isolated 

It is widely believed that due to sanctions imposed by the US since 1979, the Islamic Republic of Iran stands isolated. The sanctions have no doubt hugely impacted its economy, but the country has still managed to create a huge missile production industry and manufacture the most modern drones. Iran has not only built its axis of resistance in Hezbollah and the Houthis, but it has also nurtured good diplomatic ties with key regional players, such as Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Qatar and, more recently, even with Saudi Arabia. In the last two years, it has become part of geopolitically important multilateral fora, such as BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). A strong anti-US sentiment has also brought Iran and Russia much closer together, which is indeed a big deal for the former. 

The US once had an excellent relationship with Iran after it helped depose an elected Prime Minister and install a monarch in 1953. It continued to support the oppressive regime of the Pahlavi monarchy until the 1979 Islamic revolution replaced the tyrant administration. In a way, the US is indirectly responsible for the Islamic revolution and for oppressed Iranians under the monarchy finding refuge in the Shiite faith. True to its habit, the US has often supported dictators and anti-democracy leaders in West Asia. Military dictatorships in Egypt and the monarchies in Saudi Arabia and Jordan continue to depend on the US security umbrella. Maybe there is a need for a West Asia policy reset. But then there are hawks in the US Congress and inside Israel for whom any rapprochement with Iran will be tantamount to blasphemy.

(Syed Zubair Ahmed is a London-based senior Indian journalist with three decades of experience with the Western media)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author