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Iran: The Arsonist of the Middle East
Unidentified men carrying a model of Iran’s first-ever hypersonic missile, Fattah, past a mosque during a gathering to celebrate a failed Iranian attack on Israel, in Tehran, Iran, on April 15, 2024. Photo: Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Reuters Connect
October 7, 2024, marked the one-year anniversary of the brutal attack by Hamas on Israel that killed 1,200 Israelis, Jews, and foreign citizens.
One year later, there are still 101 Israeli hostages being held by Hamas, and 60,000 Israelis are still displaced from their homes in northern Israel due to continual rocket fire from Hezbollah.
Enter the Islamic Republic of Iran — and its destructive role as the arsonist of the Middle East.
The Iranian regime — and its obsession with the destruction of Israel — have caused decades of destruction in the Middle East and around the world. Iran’s obsession is symbolized by the “countdown clock” in a square in Tehran, which predicts the destruction of Israel.
In 2015, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, predicted that after 25 years — by 2040 — Israel will no longer exist.
In order to achieve this goal, Iran supports terror proxies throughout the region, including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and pro-Iranian militias in Syria and Iraq. Together, they are called “the Axis of Resistance” by Iranian leaders.
Iran’s military strategy toward Israel can be summed up in three words: “ring of fire.”
This refers to the efforts of Iran to provide rockets, missiles, and munitions to its terror proxies that are actively trained by Iran, in order to build a “ring of fire” around the State of Israel, which will ultimately bring about its destruction.
The Hamas onslaught on October 7 — and the constant Hezbollah rocket attacks since (alongside Houthi terrorism and the Hamas-instigated war in Gaza) are the consequences of Iran’s perverse strategy.
Since the war began in October 2023, we have seen this “ring of fire” activated in full force. This includes the firing of more than 12,000 rockets and drones from Hezbollah in Lebanon, more than 19,000 rockets from Hamas in Gaza, and hundreds of ballistic missiles from Iran itself, all being fired at civilians in Israel. In addition, the Houthis in Yemen have also fired more than 200 missiles and drones at Israel.
It’s also important to remember that Iran has done everything possible to sabotage the hopes for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
With the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, there was a real hope for peace between Israelis and Palestinians through the two-state solution. Yet, Iran, the arsonist of the Middle East, refused to let that happen. Hamas and other Palestinian terror organizations, backed and largely funded by Iran, embarked on a campaign of terror to blow up those hopes for peace.
Between 1993 and 2005, Hamas and other proxy terror organizations carried out more than 150 suicide bombings in Israeli cities — on buses, in restaurants and in shopping malls — killing well over 1,000 Israeli civilians.
The leadership of Iran works actively throughout the Middle East to achieve its ambitions for the destruction of Israel. To that end, Iran is determined to maintain Syria as another base of operations against Israel.
The tragedy of the Syrian civil war is a prime example.
During the civil war in Syria that began in 2011, Iran provided extensive support to prop up the brutal dictator, Bashar al-Assad, a close ally of the Iranian regime.
Iran provided the Syrian regime with an endless supply of ammunition, weapons, billions of dollars in economic support, and tens of thousands of fighters from Hezbollah and other proxies.
The human cost of Iran’s support for the Syrian regime couldn’t be worse: more than 500,000 dead Syrians and the creation of more than five million refugees.
In an article published in The Atlantic in 2018, Middle East expert Karim Sadjadpour wrote:
Distilled to its essence, Tehran’s steadfast support for Assad is not driven by the geopolitical or financial interests of the Iranian nation, nor the religious convictions of the Islamic Republic, but by a visceral and seemingly inextinguishable hatred for the state of Israel.”
The time has come for the international community to clearly see the motivations that inform Iran’s behavior and to hold Iran accountable for its deadly agenda.
Until then, peace will remain a distant dream for both Israelis and Palestinians, with more unnecessary suffering to be played out for the people of the entire region.
Bob Feferman is Community Relations Director for the Jewish Federation of St. Joseph Valley in South Bend.
The post Iran: The Arsonist of the Middle East first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.