On the near future -- "We are not worried. Both systems active during the Cold War failed. We need to create a third system." After 9/11, "show me one American victory in this region. For four decades they have tried in vain to install a security system in the Middle East."
On Israel -- Bahmani stresses that he knows "the history of Israel in detail since 1948." He emphasizes 1982 in Lebanon was "the last Israeli victory." Then there was 1986 ("after 16 days they accepted all of Hezbollah's demands.") In 2000, "they left Lebanon in a hurry." He enumerates a pattern of war every two years; 2006; 2008 ("they bombed Gaza for 20 days"); 2010 ("the war of 11 days"); 2012 ("8 days"); 2014 ("51 days"). He mentions Iranian intel monitoring Israeli "financial movements to European accounts. Israelis may be getting ready to leave in case of a land war."
On Israel's bombing of the T4 base in Syria, when seven top Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps military advisers were killed, and the Syrian response, striking four sensitive Israeli positions in the occupied Golan Heights with 20 missiles (this was a Syrian, not Iranian, response; here, in Arabic, is a detailed breakdown of the targets) -- "According to the agreement between Israel and Hezbollah after the 2006 war, if Hezbollah launches a missile and Israel does not respond, a skirmish, or a larger war, is over. That was the case between Israel and Syria here. And the ones who played the role of intermediary were the Russians."
I ask whether Tehran should expect further Israeli strikes in Syria. Bahmani: "Not for the moment, no. This is just a chapter. A new one may be opened, in a month or two."
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