The more time passes since recent attacks on western-owned ships, the more fingers are pointing at Iran and its ayatollah regime as responsible. Meanwhile, there is growing demand that Iran be forced to pay a price.
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One of these voices is Col. (ret.) Richard Kemp, formerly of the British Army, who is calling for a harsh response to Iran.
In an interview to Israel Hayom, Kemp says that nations "keeping their head down" when it comes to Iran, or demonstrating weakness, is merely "asking for trouble."
This approach, Kemp says, will only lead to increased aggression. The only way to win, he say, is to increase the advantage against Iran.
Kemp served for nearly 30 years in the British Army, starting as an infantry solider and earning promotion until he was put in charge of the British forces in Afghanistan in 2003. He then joined the committee that supervised the country's intelligence services. He was discharged in 2006.
Kemp thinks that western nations could respond to the deaths of a British and a Romanian citizen in the attack on the Israeli-operated Mercer Street ship off the coast of Oman in a few different ways. He says the most "appropriate" would be to send in special forces or carry out airstrikes against the parties responsible for the attack on the vessel, or against drone manufacturing facilities.
A cyber action would also be a possibility, he says.
Approximately a week ago, chief of the British Defense Staff Gen. Nick Carter was asked about the issue in an interview to the BBC, and he said that "ultimately, we have got to restore deterrence."
Kemp says that "restoring deterrence" does not mean summoning ambassadors to making stringent statements at the UN, or even applying sanctions – it means a "military action to prevent future attacks by the ayatollahs."
In that context, Kemp says that no matter what decision is taken about a response, it needs to be stronger than the Iranian attack on the Mercer Street, and be executed quickly. "It will require specific intelligence, and there's no doubt Israel can help," he points out.
However, Kemp is unsure that Britain will take the lead in any action against the Iranian regime or new Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. He says that in the 2000s, he took part in meetings with British government functionaries to weigh how to respond to a few cases of British soldiers being murdered in Iraq by proxy forces that were deployed and armed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps.
"I recommended a military response against them, inside Iran. Instead, fingers were pointed at Iranian diplomats, and the killing continued," Kemp says.
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