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



from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/T8xFRfo

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Soldier martyred, terrorist ringleader killed in 2 KP military engagements: ISPR

A soldier was martyred while a wanted terrorist was killed in separate military operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kurram and Mardan districts, according to a press release from the military’s media wing on Friday. The Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) press release said two engagements took place between security forces and terrorists in the province on the night between Thursday and Friday. An intelligence-based operation was conducted in Mardan district’s general area of Katlang, resulting in the killing of a “high-value target, terrorist ringleader Faisal”. The ISPR added he was actively involved in numerous terrorist activities and was “highly wanted by law enforcement agencies”. It said weapons and ammunition were also recovered from him. Separately, 33-year-old Lance Naik Ghairat Khan, resident of Kurram district, was martyred in an encounter with terrorists in the district’s general area Parachinar. “Security forces of Pakistan are determined to eliminate the menace o...
Read more

Govt keeps petrol price unchanged hikes diesel by Rs7.5

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday announced that the price of petrol would remain unchanged at Rs262 per litre for the next fortnight while the price of diesel was raised by Rs7.5 per litre. Addressing a press conference today, the finance minister did not specify if he was referring to high-speed diesel or light diesel oil. He also did not announce if there were any changes in the price of kerosene. Explaining the reason for the price increase, Dar said the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) had reported an increase of $3.5 in diesel prices in the international markets in the last few days, with a similar upward trend for petrol prices. He said the Ogra team had strived to pass on the minimum possible price increase to consumers as per the prime minister’s instructions so there was no increase in the petrol price. “However, because there has been a lot of negative movement and increase in prices for diesel, they (Ogra) have recommended the government to do a minimum increa...
Read more

Jamaat-i-Islami calls off sit-in as govt agrees to form task force

• Panel to finalise report within 45 days, submit it to PM Shehbaz • Hafiz Naeem says party will stage sit-in again if govt fails to keep promises RAWALPINDI: The Jamaat-i-Islami has called off its two-week-long sit-in after it reached an agreement with the government on the formation of a task force aimed at addressing issues related to independent power producers (IPPs), reducing electricity bills and lowering taxes on the salaried class. The announcement came in the early hours of Friday after the two sides concluded the fifth round of talks at JI’s protests site at Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh. However, JI emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman insisted that the party was deferring and not ending the sit-in, warning that his party would follow up on the government’s promises and would stage a sit-in again if it failed to keep its words. The task force formed as a result of the agreement is expected to finalise its report within one and a half months and submit it to Prime Minister Shehbaz S...
Read more