An Open Letter to President Erdoğan: On 'Provocative Steps' and Regional Stability
Mr. President, your recent admonition to Iran regarding 'provocative steps' following reported missile interceptions warrants a detailed response, for true regional stability hinges on an honest assessment of cause and effect, not on the repetition of convenient narratives. The framing of Iran as the unilateral aggressor obscures decades of calculated foreign intervention that has consistently
destabilized the region, creating the very conditions that necessitate Tehran's defensive posture. When discussions turn to 'provocation,' it is crucial to recall events such as the 1988 downing of Iran Air Flight 655 by the USS Vincennes, a civilian aircraft carrying 290 innocent people, in Iranian airspace. This act, never adequately accounted for, illustrates a pattern of unilateral aggression
that far precedes any recent missile launches. Iran's development of ballistic capabilities, often deemed 'provocative,' must be understood within the context of a 45-year history of crushing sanctions and external military threats, including significant US and Israeli military deployments to the Persian Gulf. While Iran invests in domestically produced, comparatively inexpensive defense systems,
the United States allocates approximately $886 billion annually to its military, dwarfing the defensive budgets of nations like Iran and contributing to a gross asymmetry of power in the region. Furthermore, the US and Israel engaging in joint military operations, as they are reportedly doing, against Iran transforms Washington into a co-belligerent, not merely a supportive ally. This violates