Letters | Who benefits from an Israel-Iran clash?
- Readers discuss Iran’s missile and drone attack on Israel, and how Benjamin Netanyahu should respond
The revolution’s expulsion of major Western nations was largely because of Western corporate interests exploiting Iran’s plentiful fossil fuel resources. Western oil companies would have learned a big lesson from that episode, and with the support of their nations’ political and military leaders, they would do everything they can to avoid a repeat of it. Let’s not forget the 2003-11 US invasion of Iraq and its oilfields.
It would be understandable if corporate fossil-fuel interests wanted Iran’s government to fall, thus enabling Big Oil to access Iran’s rich oilfields. If the leadership of oil companies have been against Iran’s post-revolution governments, then it is likely that Western governments are, too, and the media and the citizens of these countries would follow suit.
Frank Sterle Jnr, British Columbia, Canada
Israel should respond to Iran with ‘eye for an eye’
Given the absence of any Israeli deaths, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should go to great lengths to avoid any deaths or serious injuries among Iranians should he decide to respond militarily. He should be guided by the biblical principle of “an eye for an eye”.
It would be immoral to cause the deaths of any Iranians given that there were no Israeli deaths. One way to achieve this restraint and avoid a dangerous escalation would be to attack an Iranian building or buildings which are likely to be vacant at night.
Bruce Couchman, Ottawa, Canada
