Shahar Arieli: Iran threat very dangerous

The writer, of Chicago, is deputy consul general of Israel to the Midwest.

Clearly, the Islamic republic of Iran is a bitter rival to the United States. Iran supports terrorism, promotes radicalism and does everything in its power to get more and more of the Middle East under its wings.

However, all this is happening 5,000 miles away. So how critical is the Iranian nuclear threat to the United States? In other words, if Iran gets nuclear weapons, why should Omaha care?

The answer is very simple. With a nuclear weapon, Iran will be in a position to control most of the oil exports to the world. Much of the world's oil exports go through the Strait of Hormuz, which is just off the coast of Iran. Recently, Iran threatened to close the Strait and, as the Iranian senior military officer put it, "it is going to be as easy as drinking a cup of water."

Fortunately, it has been evident that Iran does not have the military force to carry out this threat. As of yet, in terms of conventional weapons, Iran is not powerful enough for that. Unfortunately, that will change once it acquires nuclear weapons. The recent Iranian threat to close the Strait could become a reality if it becomes a nuclear power. This would immediately affect oil prices.

If Iran obtains nuclear weapons, it would certainly become a regional power, trying to control the oil reserves of the Middle East. Iran would try to export its radical ideology to more and more countries, so that these countries would fall under the Iranian influence and guidance and a new evil empire would be formed in the Middle East. That would negatively influence oil prices.

More so, trying to oppose the new Iranian influence, other Arab countries would aspire to develop nuclear weapons of their own, and the Middle East would enter a nuclear arms race in an extremely volatile part of the world in which most of the oil reserves are located. That would most certainly send oil prices skyrocketing.

In other words, what happens in Iran affects the price at the pump here in America and around the world. More and more countries are beginning to understand that.

This past week 27 countries of the European Union voted to impose strict sanctions on oil exports from Iran. After July 2012 no European country will be importing oil from Iran. Here in the United States, strict sanctions were put on the Iranian Central Bank. It is clear that if Iran will not stop its nuclear race, then tougher and tougher sanctions will follow.

In Israel, we definitely see Iran as a major threat, as Iran's leaders have clearly said that Israel should be wiped off the map. Iran directly supports powerful terrorist organizations — Hamas and Hezbollah — on the borders of Israel. Iran does everything in its power to strengthen the Palestinian elements that are opposed to the peace process, making the elements of the Palestinian society opposed to reaching a peaceful solution with Israel stronger and stronger.

It's important to understand, though, that Israel is directly threatened mainly because it is the closest Western country to Iran. In that respect, we are the canary in the coal mine.

When you get right down to it, it is really a competition between two opposing views of humanity:

One is of personal freedom, democracy and hope, all the ideals that we love and cherish.

The other, represented by the ayatollah regime of Iran, is about sending the world back to the Dark Ages, under a radical, twisted interpretation of religion that dictates autocracy and oppression, with no respect for the individual and no concept of democracy.

To sum it up, the Iranian threat is indeed far away geographically, but in the global economy that we live in, it is actually right here at home. It is, in reality, a global threat.

And with the possibility of nuclear technology reaching the hands of terrorists supported by Iran, it is probably the most dangerous threat of our time.

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