The West is too soft on Iran

A lasting peace will only ever be possible if Tehran is contained properly and Hamas and Hezbollah effectively dealt with

America’s decision to deploy additional jets and warships to help defend Israel from a possibly imminent major attack by the Iranian regime is welcome and necessary. But this renewed crisis is largely due to the West’s cowardice and inconsistency in dealing with the Middle East. America, Britain and Europe have been far too soft on the Iranian regime for well over a decade, and have increasingly proved reluctant to fully support Israel after it fell victim to barbaric Hamas terrorists last year.
Following the atrocities of October 7, the West signalled that its support for Israel was ironclad. It has proved anything but. Only this week, after the killing of Hamas military leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran – the cause of the renewed tensions with Iran – President Biden said the assassination had “not helped” the situation, undermining Israeli military tactics which were essential to protect itself from an existential threat. 
Western reticence is in part due to fears of a wider regional conflict, combined with a complete absence of a coherent policy towards the region. In a continuation of Obama-era foreign policy, the Biden administration has proved itself blind to the threat posed by Iran and its proxies, prioritising the status quo in the Middle East at any price. Regrettably, in mooting a ban on arms sales to Israel and refusing to challenge the arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the new Labour government is also proving itself to be an unreliable ally of the region’s only pro-Western democracy. 
But this is ultimately not a sustainable position. With recent escalations, including Hezbollah’s attack on a children’s football game in the Golan Heights, the prospect of a war spreading to the Gulf hovers ever closer into view. The status quo in the Middle East is untenable. A lasting peace in the region will only ever be possible if Iran is finally contained properly and Hamas and Hezbollah effectively dealt with.