Brewing catastrophe

THE Middle East may be hurtling towards a catastrophic war not seen in decades, sparked by Israel’s unprovoked attack against Iran last week. While the Israelis struck with great ferocity initially, Iran has fought back, causing major damage to Israeli cities.

Yet despite the intense exchange of fire across hundreds of kilometres, neither side is ready to back down, and no off-ramps are visible for de-escalation. In fact, the threat of regional war has grown with signs that the US may get involved in attacking more Iranian nuclear facilities at Tel Aviv’s behest.

More American military hardware has been moved to the region while President Donald Trump has said he may or may not get involved militarily. He has demanded “unconditional surrender” from Iran, suggesting that the Iranian supreme leader could be targeted. In response, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that Iran will reject “an imposed war” and “an imposed peace”, and that his nation “will not surrender”.

This crisis is entirely of Israel’s own making. Iran and the US were making satisfactory progress on the nuclear issue when Tel Aviv threw a spanner in the works. In fact, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other warmongers in Israel have dreamt of attacking Iran for decades; this was their golden opportunity. Israel’s recklessness has brought the world to the edge of a disaster that could ignite the entire Middle East, and send shockwaves across the global economy.

In a sanctimonious statement after the recent G7 summit in Canada, the grouping termed Iran as “the principal source of regional instability and terror”, while mouthing the tired shibboleth about Israel’s ‘self-defence’. This is doublespeak at its finest.

While Iran indeed has issues with many of its Arab neighbours, when it comes to state-backed terror, occupation of territory and the mass murder of civilians, Israel is in a class of its own. It is because of this mollycoddling by its Western patrons that Israel today feels it can violate the sovereignty of other states at will, while butchering the Palestinian people without remorse.

The only way to stop the march towards an expanded war is for Tel Aviv to be muzzled immediately. If Mr Trump makes the mistake of plunging into the fight on Israel’s behalf, the world will enter very dangerous territory. Iran may be no match for the US-Israel combine militarily, but it will defend itself vigorously in the face of an existential threat.

Instead of launching another imperial regime change/nation-building crusade, the US and its European allies must prevail on Israel to end the war now. Washington must not join Tel Aviv’s war party, while the global community must censure Israel for sowing chaos in the region, while unleashing genocidal violence in the occupied territories.

Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2025