(LifeSiteNews) — In his latest appearance on the “Judging Freedom” show, Alastair Crooke warns that the road to war with Iran is being paved by domestic crises in Israel – and the Zionist dream of expanding its borders and power by force.
Reading the signs, Crooke concludes “we are going to war” as he explains to Judge Andrew Napolitano how an urgent deadline for sanctions on Iran combines with the Greater Israel project to threaten a conflict without limits in the Middle East.
Deadline for action
A deadline for United Nations (UN) sanctions is driving the timetable. Crooke explains that “all member states” of the UN will be obliged to apply sanctions under the terms of a deal which expires in October 2025.
The only hope is that the Iranians can negotiate a deal before the clock runs down and the U.S. attacks Iran.
“At what point can Iran negotiate?” asks Crooke, a 20-year veteran of directing peace negotiations between Israel and the Arabs. He explains that Trump is “demanding the impossible” from the Iranians.
“It’s quite clear that what Trump is saying … as he said in 2018 … the whole nuclear program has to be dismantled and removed.”
Napolitano says what Trump is demanding is a removal of “sovereignty,” adding that the real threat of nuclear proliferation has already materialized – in Israel.
He says the Zionist state does possess “long-range missiles,” as well as a nuclear arsenal which was created with material and secrets “stolen” from the U.S. – an issue which led to an ultimatum from the late President John F. Kennedy.
So where is this leading?
“We are going to war,” says Crooke, stating the Iranians are obviously preparing for one.
How the war will be fought
He lays out how the “first wave” would be to neutralize Iranian air defenses, and the second – “on the model of Hezbollah” – would be to “decapitate” the Iranian leadership by targeted assassinations assisted by Israel.
The final step, says Crooke, will be “Syria” – an Iran without defenses or leadership into which Israel can simply “walk in.”
‘Greater Israel’: the reason for war with Iran
Why is all this happening? “Greater Israel,” says Crooke, pointing out that “anyone who opposes” the expansion of Israeli power and territory are “Amalek – and they must be killed.”
“There are about two to three million Israelis – secular ones too – who believe in [this].”
Crooke explains that the crisis in Israel is also making the case for war with Iran.
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“It’s quite possible that Israel will disintegrate,” says Crooke, citing mounting scandals over “Qatargate” and Netanyahu’s dismissal of security, army, and legal officials.
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“There is no constitution in Israel,” says Crooke, and no Supreme Court. This means that there is no framework to oppose Netanyahu further concentrating the power of the state in his own person and creating an undemocratic dictatorship.
“Netanyahu is on the ropes personally and legally,” says Napolitano. With outrage among stockholders in the U.S. at Trump’s tariffs, could war be the answer to domestic troubles in the U.S. and Israel?
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This could be a “wonderful distraction” for both Trump and Netanyahu, says Crooke.
Crooke also explains how cutting off Iranian oil would be catastrophic for China, which provides another impetus for U.S.-led regime change in Iran.
Negotiations announced
Shortly after Crooke’s video was released, New York Times journalist Farnaz Fassihi reported last night that talks may be underway to avert war in Iran.
SCOOP: Three Iranian officials tell me that Iran and U.S. planning to meet in Oman on Saturday for indirect talks. Iran had told Washington it is open & willing to hold direct talk if the first round goes well, a clear shift in position.
— Farnaz Fassihi (@farnazfassihi) April 7, 2025
Her statement was followed by an announcement on X by the Iranian foreign minister confirming that U.S.-Iran negotiations would take place in Oman this weekend.
Iran and the United States will meet in Oman on Saturday for indirect high-level talks.
It is as much an opportunity as it is a test. The ball is in America’s court.
— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) April 7, 2025
Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter said the news on April 7 showed that “Trump has softened his stance on Iran, narrowing his focus to exclusively nuclear issues – as I had predicted.”
The major concern for all nations in the region has been and still will be Israel’s undeclared and unrestricted possession of at least 200 nuclear weapons and missile delivery systems, including from Israeli submarines.
President Kennedy and his brother Bobby were deeply worried about Israel’s theft of U.S. nuclear secrets and materials to build their secret nuclear bombs and refusal to join a nuclear weapons control treaty. They warned that would destabilize the entire Middle East, which indeed it has.
While media and Western political emphasis has for many years been on preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, which they still do not have, no one is mentioning the far greater issue of Israel’s nuclear weapons.
Israel has made repeated back-channel threats over the years to use them to force the U.S. and other nations to not oppose their expansion wars and to terrorize all the surrounding nations. That blackmail appears to be having less impact this time.
Ritter explains the chance for peace
Iran “has agreed to third party negotiations” and will be talking to Russia and China “to discuss its nuclear program, Ritter explained, adding that “the director-general of the [International Atomic Energy Agency], Rafael Grossi, has announced he may be heading to Iran shortly to discuss Iran’s nuclear program.”
Ritter pointed out these talks will take place within the framework of the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) concerned with limiting the spread of nuclear weapons.
And yet…
Iran just agreed to engage in negotiations with the US in Oman on the nuclear issue.
This Saturday.
Negotiations which will be conducted within the framework of the NPT.
Negotiations which if successful will prevent a war.
When will you admit you simply don’t know…
— Scott Ritter (@RealScottRitter) April 8, 2025
These are “negotiations which, if successful, will prevent a war,” he says, expanding on a previous statement which says Iran must dismantle its nuclear weapons capability whose existence it has “already admitted” to the U.S.:
“This crisis isn’t about Israel or Israel’s own undeclared nuclear weapons capability. It is about Iran’s self-declared status as a threshold nuclear weapons state, something prohibited by the NPT.”
“This is what the negotiations will focus on,” Ritter states, saying he hopes “these negotiations will permit the verifiable dismantling of those aspects of its nuclear program the US (and Israel) find to present an existential threat.”
Ritter says “peace is not guaranteed” – warning “but war is – unless common sense and fact-based logic wins out over the self-important ignorance of the digital mob and their facilitators.”
France24 reported last week that “war is inevitable” should talks fail.
China, Russia in Iran nuclear talks
There now appears to be an international effort to avoid war in Iran, involving the U.S., China, and Russia on the terms of a 50-year nuclear treaty. Crooke and Napolitano present the facts in a case made for war with Iran to serve Israel’s interests. Will common sense prevail? Netanyahu urged the U.S. to go to war with Iran in 2002 and has done so ever since.
Having led his own state to the brink of disintegration, will he succeed in saving himself by inviting the United States into a war which could do the same for America – if not the world?
The clock is ticking. Deadlines for sanctions on Iran combine with the serious crisis in Israel to provide a deadly urgency to the timetable for war. The fatal dream of a Greater Israel now threatens to engulf the world in a conflict which would likely prove impossible to contain. There is a logic both for war and peace emerging in these developments.
The danger is that the argument will be carried by messianic religious advocates for Armageddon in Israel, whose leadership relies on the destruction of peace at any price.
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