“In this context, is bombing Iran going to improve the lives of Iranians or provide more stability and peace? The answer to both these questions is no – instead more innocent people will die, hatred will spread like cancer and all of us will ultimately be less secure.”
Donald Trump infamously accused Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky of “gambling with World War III” in an Oval Office confrontation. But the US president is arguably now doing exactly that by partnering with Israel to launch deadly strikes on Iran.
He and Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to initiate the pathetically named Operation Epic Fury in the middle of negotiations marks a grave and destabilising turn in an already volatile region. More than 50 schoolgirls killed in a missile strike are reported to be just some of the victims of America and Israel’s fury.
Meanwhile the conflict has already spread with retaliatory strikes on Dubai, Doha, Bahrain and Kuwait where the US has military bases. It is not remotely an overreaction to fear this conflict could flare into a full scale regional war and then spread.
Nobody wants Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon, and there should be no love lost for its authoritarian theocratic regime which has killed thousands. But it is worth recalling the underlying facts. Iran does not possess a nuclear weapon despite its programme to acquire one having advanced in troubling ways.
By contrast Israel is widely reported to maintain an undeclared nuclear arsenal despite having never signed the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Iran was also at the negotiating table and clearly desperate to avoid conflict with the US and its closest ally at the time it was attacked.
The war appears clearly to be illegal under international law. No UN resolution supporting it exists and it would be preposterous to argue that an attack from Iran was imminent.
There are legitimate concerns over Iran’s support for groups such as Hamas, who carried out the horrific October 7 attacks, killing more than 1200 Israelis.
Israel meanwhile has chosen to launch military strikes on a number of its neighbours in recent years. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes in Gaza, where tens of thousands of civilians have died.
In this context, is bombing Iran going to improve the lives of Iranians or provide more stability and peace? The answer to both these questions is no – instead more innocent people will die, hatred will spread like cancer and all of us will ultimately be less secure.
Operation Epic Fury, like so many misadventures in the Middle East, feels destined to become Operation Epic Folly.
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