Middle East: The Israeli aggression against Iran was “definitely intended” to sabotage diplomacy as its principal objective in the Persian Gulf region is “to bring regime change in Iran,” says an American analyst.

In an interview with the Press TV website, Philip Giraldi, an American political commentator and security consultant who previously worked as an intelligence officer for the CIA, said the Israeli regime knows that it cannot achieve that objective without American support.

“It feared that Tehran and Washington might actually come to some kind of agreement,” he stated, referring to the derailment of indirect nuclear talks between Iran and the US under Oman’s mediation.

The unprovoked aggression against the Islamic Republic in the early hours of June 13 came just two days ahead of the sixth round of nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington in Muscat.

After the large-scale attacks, which resulted in the assassination of many high-ranking Iranian military commanders and nuclear scientists, US President Donald Trump publicly acknowledged American support for the aggression that violated international law.

Over a week into the Israeli aggression, the US also carried out attacks on Iranian nuclear sites.

Giraldi, who has served as the Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest since 2010 and is also the founding member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, said diplomacy and violence cannot go together.

“As we have seen also in the case of Russia/US that negotiations must take place in good faith. The US did have prior knowledge of Israeli intentions and, even though it was not convinced it was a good idea, let the attack proceed even though it could have easily stopped what was happening,” Giraldi said.

“And, of course, Trump backed up the Israelis with his own attack, which demonstrates that he had no real desire to do what was necessary to come to an agreement with the Iranians in the first place.”

In response to the American assault, Iran carried out retaliatory strikes on the biggest US military base in the Persian Gulf region in Qatar, after which tensions gradually de-escalated.

While the nuclear diplomacy has been shelved for now, Iran maintains that its enrichment program is in line with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and for purely peaceful and energy purposes.

“Iran is right - it is fully compliant with international NPT requirements and is enriching within allowable limits. It is Israel that is the rogue state as it has a secret nuclear weapons arsenal that no one has been allowed to inspect or monitor,” Giraldi told the Press TV website.

“President John F Kennedy tried to stop the development of Israeli nuclear weapons and was assassinated as a result, probably with the collusion of Israel's friends in the US.”

He said the hawks in the Trump administration, including the president himself, have made an issue of Iran’s zero enrichment and are providing “every indication that they will insist on that,” which makes an agreement between the two sides difficult.

“Israel will lie that Iran is secretly developing weapons to induce the US to join it in an attack on Iran,” said Giraldi, who was a foreign policy adviser to Ron Paul during the 2008 presidential primaries.

“I would guess that Trump will not be eager to enter into another war as he has just increased the risks with Russia, but Netanyahu and the powerful Israeli lobby in the US will be putting maximum pressure on him to join with Israel in an attack. I would judge that it could go either way.”

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday said the window for diplomacy is still open and the country will use all its political capacities to move forward on this path.

He, however, warned that while the Iranian people seek peace, they are by no means submissive, noting that Tehran entered the talks with Washington to “clear any misunderstanding in the public opinion and to prove the peaceful nature of its nuclear activities.”

Source: Press TV