No sense that Israel wants its neigbors to be weak: Chinese expert

TABNAK, Jan. 07 - Chinese expert says that President Trump's tough stance on Iran is primarily driven by Netanyahu, adding that "no sense that Israel wants its neighbors to be weak and unable to pose a security challenge to it."

News ID: 7098

Date: 07 January 2026 - 13:32

Following the recent threats against Iran by the US president after the Israeli prime minister's visit to US and their meddling in Iran's internal affairs by supporting rioters in the country and also kidnapping Venezuelan president by Trump administration, TABNAK reached out to Professor Hongda Fan, director of the China-Middle East Center at Shaoxing University, China.

Here is the full text of the interview with him:

Recently unprecedently Trump has supported rioters in Iran and has announced that  if Iranian government cracks down rioters the US will act against Iran. Why has Trump taken so unprecedented approach?

In reality, Iran poses no threat to core U.S. interests. President Trump's tough stance on Iran is primarily driven by the Netanyahu government in Israel. Netanyahu's recent trip to the U.S. further reinforced the Trump administration's attitude towards Iran. Furthermore, Iran's relatively good relations with Russia and China also displease President Trump.

Both US and Israel have announced that they will resort to preemptive attacks to stop Iran missile program. How do you assess their preemptive war approach against Iran's conventional missile program?

In my view, this makes no sense. Israel wants its neighbors to be weak and unable to pose a security challenge to it. Israel is too focused on its own absolute security. This could easily lead to conflict with other countries. Militarily speaking, Iran poses even less of a threat to the United States, which again demonstrates the US's unprincipled bias towards Israel.

US kidnapped Venezuelan President Maduro to put him on trial, how do you assess this act based on international law?

Frankly speaking, the international community has become increasingly disordered in recent years, and international law is increasingly disregarded. Washington's consistent practice is to define its targets first and then take action. For example, the United States first refused to recognize Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela, instead treating him as a criminal suspect. The United States is acting according to the law of the jungle, which is extremely dangerous for world peace and security.

Trump insists that there has been no contact between US and the ones close to Maduro, but he has agreed with Maduro's deputy to remain in power. So his claim that there has been no contact seems to be lie. What do you think of this?

I don't believe Washington didn't contact any forces or individuals in Venezuela before arresting Maduro. The Trump administration itself said the arrest plan had been in preparation for a long time. The US certainly didn't just want Maduro; achieving other goals clearly required the cooperation of people within Venezuela.

How will the US move in Venezuela affect China's interest in the country and generally in Latin America?

So far, Maduro's arrest is a disgrace to Chinese diplomacy, especially considering he had just met with a Chinese delegation before his arrest. It's well known that China has tens of billions of dollars invested in Venezuela, and I pray for their safety. Given the Trump administration's new national security strategy, future relations between Venezuela and China will certainly be hampered.