[By Jiao Haiyang/China.org.cn]

Israel and the United States announced on Jan. 16 the postponement of a major military exercise scheduled for spring, in order to avoid aggravating an already tense regional situation driven by their conflict with Iran. In fact, Iran is also worried about a possible war with the two countries. Iran's defense minister recently made it clear that the country has no intention of blocking the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran recently claimed that it will step up its enrichment of uranium through the use of advanced equipment, prompting Israel to again develop plans for attacking Iran. The Obama administration also expressed concern on Iran's move. The United States is still hoping to force Iran to stop its nuclear program through international pressure. U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Martin Dempsey is set to visit Israel on Jan. 19, and the Iranian nuclear issue is expected to be a main topic for his talks with Israeli officials.

The United States braked suddenly to avoid the deterioration of the tense regional situation into a large-scale war, showing that the Obama administration is unwilling to go to war with Iran for the time being.

The tense situation of the Strait of Hormuz once again revealed the delicate relationship and difference of views between the United States and Israel. If Iran develops nuclear weapon, it will turn into the biggest threat to Israel. It is the common view of the United States and Israel. In past several months, the United States have been gathering alliances to pressure Iran and its Fifth Fleet have also passed through the Strait of Hormuz several times, because the United States hopes that these measures could force Iran to give in. The U.S. President Barack Obama communicated with Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu last week and Martin Dempsey visited Israel this week, because the United States wanted to check the two countries' paces to prevent unexpected accidents from ruining the overall situation.

For the United States, the Iran issue is like a needle on its back. It indeed wants to overthrow the Iran government, but objective conditions do not allow it to do it. The United States has not recovered from the exhaustion by the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and therefore said in its newly-published military strategy that it cannot fight two wars at the same time.

In addition, Iran is not Iraq. In the United States' domestic political area, ending the Iraq and Afghanistan wars will help Obama win the presidential election, but starting another war will have an opposite effect. In the big strategic picture, a war in the Strait of Hormuz will affect the whole world, and therefore, the United States has to think it twice.

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