A former US official, Paul Craig Roberts, who served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under former President Ronald Reagan, has said that the ongoing wars in the Middle East, particularly the war against Iran, cannot be understood in isolation from what he described as a wider agenda linked to the so-called “Greater Israel” project.
In remarks during an appearance on a political podcast, Roberts said that Iran and the wider Islamic world are not directly raising the issue of “Greater Israel” in talks about the future of the Middle East, although he believes it is the central issue driving the conflict in the region.
He said that, in his view, Israel has succeeded in pushing US President Donald Trump into confrontation with Iran, something it had failed to achieve with previous US presidents. He added that this shift reflects Israel’s ability to influence US decision-making on this sensitive issue.
The former US official also said that most wars in the Middle East in the 21st century are fundamentally linked to this concept of “Greater Israel”. He argued that the economic and political consequences of these conflicts are not limited to the countries involved, but extend to the global economy, particularly the energy sector and related markets.
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