ANU professor encourages Iran to take ‘serious nuclear measures' against Israel

Sky News AU

9 hours ago

A senior professor at the Australian National University has said the only way Iran can reverse the current balance of power in the Middle East is to take 'serious nuclear measures'.
The recent 12-day war between Israel and Iran, spurred by Tel Aviv's 'pre-emptive" strike on Iran's nuclear sites rocked the region and resulted in the death of major Iranian military commanders and nuclear scientists in addition to hundreds of innocent civilians in both countries.
Israel described its actions as anticipatory self-defence, claiming Iran was mere weeks away from producing a functional nuclear weapon.
The tumultuous conflict was brought to a close after US President Donald Trump launched a targeted strike of three Iranian nuclear facilities including the Fordo, Natanz and Esfahan complexes with a US brokered ceasefire coming into effect shortly after.
However, in an interview with the Al Jazeera media network, Alam Saleh a senior lecturer in politics and international relations at the Australian National University suggested that Iran should take nuclear action against Israel if it wanted to reassert dominance in the region.
Mr Saleh pressed that Iran would never be completely secure if Israel could strike the country without the prospect of 'serious retaliation' and that it was in the nations best interest to continue working on its nuclear weapons program.
'The balance of power between Iran and Israel and the US has changed now,' Dr Saleh told Al Jazeera last week.
'If Iran wants to achieve military deterrence, it must take serious nuclear measures that will prevent such attacks."
A translation of the controversial interview by press-monitoring service Memri TV revealed the Iran based academic stated that unless Israel faced a risk of 'suffering greater defeats' the truce between the two nations would be 'fragile and temporary.'
'As long as the Israelis can attack Iran without suffering greater defeats, this will probably continue for a long time,' Mr Saleh said.
The Middle East studies specialist, who does not live in Australia told The Australian his comments had been taken out of context, and that he was making an 'analytical' argument.
He insisted he did not support any country acquiring nuclear weapons.
'My argument was that if ­Israel increases its military pressure on Iran, it could inadvertently push Iran toward pursuing nuclear capabilities – thereby increasing the threat to Israel itself,' he told The Australian.
'This was not an endorsement of such a course, but rather a caution against policies that might lead to such dangerous outcomes.'
The comments sparked outrage from Jewish groups who questioned if the beleaguered university had adequately addressed mounting anti-semitic sentiments among its staff and students after it came under fire for its decision to reconsider the definition of anti-semitism in late May.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry Alex Ryvchin called on ANU to launch an investigation into Mr Saleh's interview and his academic record, stating that the development was 'profoundly troubling.'
"It is incredible that a professor at one of our top universities is even discussing how to protect the interests of the Iranian regime,' Mr Ryvchin told The Australian.