Early this year, I had written that instead of stopping wars Trump is actually starting new ones. With his actions in Venezuela and also threatening to take over Greenland. Now, it turns out he has decided to go after Iran along with his accomplice and partner-in-crime if I can call him that, Netanyahu of Israel. It was quite apparent right through Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza that Netanyahu would like to expand the conflict so that he can go after his real enemy, Iran. In fact, America striking Iran’s nuclear facilities with Operation Midnight Hammer in June last year was a clear sign that this Middle-East conflict would soon include Iran.
In an unprovoked act of war, Israel first struck Tehran on February 28, especially the Presidential Palace and the Supreme Leader’s compound. Later, it was reported that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was dead and the Iranian State Media too confirmed this. Now, over 20 days later, there is still no let-up in the Israeli-US bombing of Iran and the consequent retaliatory strikes by Iran on Israel as well as several neighbouring Gulf nations. Iran says it is striking US bases in these countries and it is true that most of these rich Arab countries enjoy US protection in exchange for allowing the US military to have bases there. Little wonder, many of the Iranian missiles have been intercepted and we can imagine the extent of the damage if it weren’t for these protective shields.
US leaders’ press briefings and Trump’s own social media posts provide nothing more than a daily commentary on how much of Iran’s military and missile capabilities have been struck. They don’t provide any clarity on what the war is actually about and I doubt the leaders themselves have a clue. It is regime change one day, eliminating Iran’s missile capabilities on another day and obliterating their nuclear capabilities on the third day. According to Trump’s own claim, Iran’s leadership and its military might have been finished and militarily there isn’t much left to do. What is left to fight for then, is the question. Why don’t US and Israel call off the war, since they have finished the task that they set for themselves?
Even more shocking is the silence and inaction on the part of all the Gulf countries who have suffered severe hits and serious economic shocks on account of this senseless war. They are being hit with missiles and drone attacks raining on them, every single day and they are yet to muster the courage to tell their US allies to stop the bombing of Iran. These economies are going to be badly impacted as they are unable to produce enough crude oil and ship it to the rest of the world because the Strait of Hormuz is closed and their oil storage facilities are full already. The Gulf region is also an important international financial centre and a huge international aviation hub. This is economic waste on an unimaginable scale.
Instead the GCC along with Jordan are reported to have passed a UN resolution asking for Iran to stop the missile and drone attacks. This is even more strange, because under UN-backed international law, it is the US and Israel that have committed a serious offence in attacking Iran when there was no imminent threat from the country and killing its leader. And they should be the countries to stop the attacks, while Iran defends itself.
US’ western allies such as the UK and Europe are no better. Instead of pressuring the US and Israel to stop this mindless war, they are busy offering military bases and perhaps even fighter jets and equipment to them to continue to fight the war in Iran. Nobody is sure what the UK and European position on this war is, because the media hasn’t cared to report anything so far. It could equally be that Europe and UK are sending jets and aircraft carriers to the Mediterranean as protection in case they are hit with Iranian missiles as well.
However, this already looks like escalation of the conflict, when western powers ought to be doing their best to stop this war at the earliest. Their silence and inaction reveal a new dynamic and it is that the west is no longer as reliant on Middle-eastern oil as it used to be. Now that the US is an exporter of oil and shale gas, and Europe is also dependent on the US for its energy needs thanks to the Russian war with Ukraine, they have little incentive to stop the war.
With Trump now asking for western allies to join in the Iran war and help free the Strait of Hormuz, things could get stranger still in the weeks ahead. So far, it appears that Europe and Britain have rightly expressed reservations about joining the war and escalating it. But they need to take this opportunity to actually talk Trump and Netanyahu out of continuing with the attacks on Iran.
It is time that both the Gulf countries and western powers called for a cessation of hostilities because this war isn’t going to lead to any positive outcomes for either of the warring parties. It is a pointless war with no clear objective, no strategy and no end-game in sight. Meanwhile, it is wreaking economic havoc on the rest of the world, especially on countries that depend on oil imports from the region, including India and many others.
The worst part is that in starting this new war, the state of Gaza and ordinary Palestinians have been forgotten. Iran, the Gulf countries and all Islamic nations ought to focus their attention on the Palestinian issue as the biggest prize, and work towards achieving an independent state for them as I have been writing. They would be better off winding down this conflict soon and concentrating on the Gaza and Palestine issue instead. The longer they allow this conflict to carry on, the more they enable Netanyahu and Israel to establish its hegemony in the region, and the farther the hope of a Palestine state slips away.
In principle, that is the cause worth fighting for, and it should be at the negotiating table.
What about Trump’s Board of Peace? Well, it seems that Trump is bored of peace!
Peripatetic Perch 