AMMAN — Recently Israeli Vice Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz offered an unequivocal veto on a key issue in the Mideast peace process: Any return of the Golan Heights to Syria would result in an "Iranian foothold" on Israel's border and would thus not only be politically naive but irrational.
Mofaz's statement is symptomatic of a perception that is now deeply entrenched, not only in the Middle East, but in the United States as well. That notion is of a hegemonic Iran that is attempting to dominate the region through an array of Shiite proxies. This Iranian fifth column is believed to stretch from Beirut via Damascus, Gaza to Baghdad and finally from Iran to Saudi Arabia to Yemen.
Recent armed clashes between Hezbollah and the Lebanese government are, it is said, just another sign of Iran's hegemonic reach.