<p class="bodytext">The joint United States-Israel offensive against Iran, eight months after the 2025 attack, signals a militarist-imperialist brazenness to meet ‘objectives’ that are made up. The attack involved the targeted assassination of Iran’s political, religious and military leadership and their families. A world, particularly the West, inured to the prolonged genocidal killings in Gaza, is unlikely to be stirred by the latest US-Israel military action or the dangers posed to nation-states by rogue-like US and Israel flouting international law. The playbook is the same as in the past: diplomatic dialogue is initiated, this time with Oman as the mediator, and the cover of talks is used to destroy the other party. What makes it particularly reprehensible this time is that Oman’s mediation was close to bearing fruit with Iran conceding far more than it has ever done in talks with the US. Therefore, the “pre-emptive” attack was obviously to pre-empt the US-Oman-Iran dialogue from closing a deal.</p>.India’s Iran dilemma | Three risks, one doctrine.<p class="bodytext">This rush to attack Iran has been laid bare by Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, who was the mediator. He revealed what the negotiations had achieved to thwart an Israeli military offensive similar to the last one. Now, the perception has gained ground that Israel wanted to pre-empt any US-Iran reconciliation that would endanger the Zionist’s militarist march towards the dream of Greater Israel. The war has triggered Iranian hostility against Arab states and pushed the region into deeper instability. President Trump’s claims of Iran being an “imminent” threat to the US is a familiar script, drawing on a mix of disparate themes—plans for nuclear weapons (no credible evidence) and “freedom” for the people through regime change. The aggressors chose their moment carefully, as Iran is still under severe economic strain and was reeling under civilian unrest.</p>.<p class="bodytext">While the West’s Arab allies may be vocal in their hostility to Iran, they are unlikely to be beneficiaries. Military action has rarely brought about a smooth regime change. Iran has no choice but to fight back lest it be reduced to another Gaza and its people consigned to the fate of Palestinians. How the surviving political leadership of Iran and the Revolutionary Guards respond to the challenges they face now will indicate what is in store for the region. There have been excesses in Iran under Ayatollah Khamenei, but none of that can justify the US-Israel war and assassinations. The situation in Iraq, Libya, Syria, Gaza, Lebanon and elsewhere, where US forces have interfered and occupied in the past, offers one lesson: self-appointed foreign saviours with their own scores to settle can rarely ensure a transition from a problematic regime to a stable, peaceful and democratic one.</p>
<p class="bodytext">The joint United States-Israel offensive against Iran, eight months after the 2025 attack, signals a militarist-imperialist brazenness to meet ‘objectives’ that are made up. The attack involved the targeted assassination of Iran’s political, religious and military leadership and their families. A world, particularly the West, inured to the prolonged genocidal killings in Gaza, is unlikely to be stirred by the latest US-Israel military action or the dangers posed to nation-states by rogue-like US and Israel flouting international law. The playbook is the same as in the past: diplomatic dialogue is initiated, this time with Oman as the mediator, and the cover of talks is used to destroy the other party. What makes it particularly reprehensible this time is that Oman’s mediation was close to bearing fruit with Iran conceding far more than it has ever done in talks with the US. Therefore, the “pre-emptive” attack was obviously to pre-empt the US-Oman-Iran dialogue from closing a deal.</p>.India’s Iran dilemma | Three risks, one doctrine.<p class="bodytext">This rush to attack Iran has been laid bare by Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, who was the mediator. He revealed what the negotiations had achieved to thwart an Israeli military offensive similar to the last one. Now, the perception has gained ground that Israel wanted to pre-empt any US-Iran reconciliation that would endanger the Zionist’s militarist march towards the dream of Greater Israel. The war has triggered Iranian hostility against Arab states and pushed the region into deeper instability. President Trump’s claims of Iran being an “imminent” threat to the US is a familiar script, drawing on a mix of disparate themes—plans for nuclear weapons (no credible evidence) and “freedom” for the people through regime change. The aggressors chose their moment carefully, as Iran is still under severe economic strain and was reeling under civilian unrest.</p>.<p class="bodytext">While the West’s Arab allies may be vocal in their hostility to Iran, they are unlikely to be beneficiaries. Military action has rarely brought about a smooth regime change. Iran has no choice but to fight back lest it be reduced to another Gaza and its people consigned to the fate of Palestinians. How the surviving political leadership of Iran and the Revolutionary Guards respond to the challenges they face now will indicate what is in store for the region. There have been excesses in Iran under Ayatollah Khamenei, but none of that can justify the US-Israel war and assassinations. The situation in Iraq, Libya, Syria, Gaza, Lebanon and elsewhere, where US forces have interfered and occupied in the past, offers one lesson: self-appointed foreign saviours with their own scores to settle can rarely ensure a transition from a problematic regime to a stable, peaceful and democratic one.</p>
