Following Iran’s attack on Israel, Former Nigerian Diplomat, Joe Keshi joined an interview with ARISE NEWS on Monday during which he criticised Iran’s actions against Israel, saying that though he isn’t against the right of the Iranians to retaliate, they were poorly planned and lacked strategic foresight.
“If you really want to retaliate in the true sense of retaliation, you’ll probably do something more strategic than they have done. I am not blaming Iran for retaliating. Iran has a right to retaliate. All I’m saying is that they would have done a proper analysis of what they want to do.”
Discussing the potential consequences of the Iran crisis on the African continent, given Iran’s status as the third-largest oil producer, he said, “As for the rise of oil, most likely if it escalates, I’m not too sure whether we as a country will benefit much from the high price of oil as things are now because of our inability today to meet our quota and then to be able to scale up production to be able to gain.”
He also said that in the event of an escalation of the crisis and Israel decides to fight back, Iran will be without support because it has no allies.
“I’m not too sure any of the Arab countries want to join in this battle. If they had any intention to join, they would have actually gone in to begin to defend the people of Gaza. Egypt is not going to get involved, Saudi Arabia is not going to get involved, Jordan will not get involved. Iran is isolated in this matter. That is why I said they did something foolish. I am not against Iranians’ right to retaliate.
He added that if Israel decided to retaliate, nobody can stop Israel whenever it decides to strike back.
“In the past nobody has succeeded in doing that and I doubt whether they would listen now. But I sincerely hope that the western allies who are currently putting pressure on Israel not to retaliate will continue to do that at least for now, but the Israelis have also issued a statement saying they would retaliate at a time and place that they choose to.”
He therefore emphasised the need to focus on ending the war in Gaza and helping the people of Gaza.
“I sincerely hope that they can restrain Israel from going after Iran for now and let’s just hope that we can restrict the crisis to Gaza and find a way of ending the Gaza war for the sake of humanity. The people of Gaza have suffered enough and I think they should be the focus of the United Nations as well immediately after they’ve debated this latest crisis.The real issue is saving the lives of the people of Gaza and the Palestinian people.”
Melissa Enoch
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