They Killed One Man And Ignited An Entire Nation

A deal is within reach, said Oman Badr Al Busaidi on February 27. Oman was mediating talks with Iran to reach an agreement on nuclear weapons and related issues. Within hours of this the US-Israel moved in to attack Iran, killing as they claim, 40 major leaders in the first instance. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei was ‘martyred’ along with his Defence Minister and Army chief. Now it appears that Iran’s former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was also targeted and killed.

US President Donal Trump made his usual gleeful announcements, in a baseball cap this time– and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after his usual menacing words fled to Berlin, if the social media is to be believed. Not much has been heard from him in the last day or so even though Tel Aviv and other parts of Israel have taken a pounding with the compromised Arab nations housing American military bases also getting a taste of bombs and war.

In the US itself, the Democrats and many prominent personalities have come out strongly against Trump’s action. The people have gone to the streets calling on the American government to ‘stop the war’. The social media is covered with memes of Trump and Epstein with serious commentators like Jeffrey Sachs and others drawing a parallel between the recent wars and the Epstein files, the former intended to distract from their latter runs their argument. Trump’s popularity is plummeting as more and more Americans, including his MAGA base, are coming out against war. As New York Mayor Zohrab Mamdani has been saying, the Americans voted for Trump for affordability, and livelihood remains their driving concern.

Iran, a small country under forty years of crippling sanctions by the US, has again demonstrated not just military strategy but sheer courage. Unlike the compromised, miserable Arab countries around it has stood up to the mighty might of the US-Israel combine, using its brain and Persian ethos to mount a counter attack that has hit home. Saudi Arabia, UAE, Jordan and the rest are completely sold to American interests, and their statements of war supporting Israel have actually sealed their future as vassals at best. As has Pakistan of course with its Army Chief expanding his chest with every word of praise from Trump, who is dodging bullets from his own people over the Epstein files and charges of corruption and paedophilia.

As the world gets increasingly polarised, the spotlights move to Israel and Iran. The former a country created by the colonial masters of the time, nurtured and weaponised by America and its allies over the decades, to wipe out resistance in the oil rich region, and bring back western dominance. The latter an age-old civilisation with the current government emerging from a ‘revolution’ where the same colonisers preferring the Ayatollah regime to a more progressive alternative after the Shah of Iran was overthrown by the people. Always happier with the fundamentalists –such as Saudi Arabia– the thinking then clearly was to bring in the Ayatollah regime that could then be tackled and moved out. Independence of women is the argument that is being proffered over and over again as a public opinion moulder, with Trump wearing the garb of a saviour even as his forces bomb a girls school in Iran killing over 100 little students, and ‘survivors’ of Epstein at home hurl accusations of exploitation and rape.

Besides Iran has long since been strategising for this threatened war. And to think that by killing the top leader they would have effected a regime change, US and Israel have again demonstrated that they have no idea of the Persian mind and the great civilisation. The succession had been decided a long time ago, and perhaps people should keep in mind the fact that despite the drastic attack and loss of top leadership, the Iranians moved into the counter attack almost seamlessly. It was only later, after Iranian missiles had hit Israel and the American bases in the region, that the people got to know of the deaths. As for Ali Khamenei he at 86 has been martyred defending his country, a definition that will place him into a canonized zone as it were. The west will also need to remember that ‘revenge’ is part of the Persian dignity and self respect, a word that has been floating all over the social media now after the attack.

Israel has never reached such a low. The genocide in Gaza has turned Netanyahu into a pariah of sorts, with world leaders except perhaps the one, unwilling to visit or stand with him even for photographs. Countries and peoples have described him as a ‘wanted criminal’ and world bodies like the United Nations have discussed the attack on Palestinians as a complete travesty of not just democracy and the law but basic human behaviour. Even in America where Israel as a nation held sway, the ratings have dipped with more Americans now expressing support for Gaza and the Palestinians than Netanyahu and Israel. This would have been considered unbelievable not so long ago but has now registered in recent polls.

West Asia in its evolution has at best flirted with democracy. That is not the preferred form of government in the region, and today the Israel and American kind of democracy has certainly not evoked admiration. There is more democracy in Iran than Saudi Arabia and Jordan where the royal families are entrenched, completely authoritarian, highly unpopular and do regular deals with the West to keep themselves in power. Besides there is little legitimacy in the argument of ‘regime change’ (just till a few weeks ago it was nuclear weapons) when democratic covenants and international law are flouted and violated at will, by those claiming democratic intent!

This is a war with no provocation. With no justification.

-It is being waged by two leaders, each trying to escape from increasing criticism at home over serious issues that could lead to the impeachment of at least one. Wars and violence and targeted assassinations are being used by two unscrupulous leaders against the will of their own people.

- It is being waged against their own established democratic conventions. In Trump’s case with the mandated permission of the Congress.

- It is being waged against a sovereign country that was in talks with the US over differences, and a solution was actually in sight.

- It is being waged against a people, as the bombing of the primary girls school so amply demonstrates; as does the more recent attack on a hospital.

It is no one's case that Iran can fight a sustained war. That it was able to actually penetrate the most sophisticated defense systems in the world and cause damage is in itself a major move forward for the tiny battle-strapped country that has not been allowed to breathe for the last four decades. Not by Sunni Saudi Arabia and its minions, and not by Israel and the US that feel threatened and insecure by nations that follow their own mind. True sovereignty for them is a challenge, a red rag to the insane bull, as Iraq, Libya and Syria have found out in recent years. The Palestinians of course, secular and without the Shia or Sunni tag to their names, posed a challenge to all in the region and in the West and have now been collectively attacked and killed.

China and Russia have helped arm Iran, and provide crucial military information. Both are reluctant to be drawn in militarily, as this would throw the world into a WW3 scenario. Even if America is led by an irresponsible President, Putin and Xi are fortunately showing no such tendencies and are keeping a quiet exterior with strong statements from time to time. It is clear to all that the fall of Iran will in immediate terms move the world into unipolarity as it will decisively weaken China that was fast emerging as a substantive pole. The million dollar questions then remain - what now? Will Trump and Netanyahu continue the war? How long will Iran be able to resist? How will China and Russia react?

All the others sending messages, and working the telephones, and flying around are currently irrelevant.

Cover Photograph: Iranian mourns the ‘martyrdom’ of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Tasnim News