Before and after the senseless Hammas attack and provocation of Israel on October 7, 2024 which led to assertive brutal revenge against the entire Palestine, Gaza and what remains of it; Telaviv has always viewed Iran as a gadfly and potentially arch-enemy fueling regional distrust, chaos and animosity. Iran’s desperate positioning as middle-east head boy and her audacious uranium enrichment programme – a prelude to building ambitious, formidable nuclear facility and weapon also creates fear around the globe.
Leaders of countries including those who even though have nuclear heads, murdered many in Nagasaki and Hiroshima think Iran is capable of abusing the arsenal if allowed.
Therefore, a systematic elimination of Iranian scientists and military chiefs whose rich expertise are seen to have embolden the country despite economic sanctions imposed on her was the first plan to weaken the Persian nation using Israel – their sworn enemy as arrow-head. The latest of the strategic onslaught is the surprise coordinated attack on Iranian military chiefs, military bases as well as on multiple Revolutionary Guard command centers and underground nuclear facilities by the Israeli Operation Rising Lion, on Thursday June 12.
The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu in a video accused Iran of weaponising its nuclear programme saying it poses a direct threat to Israel. The Prime Minister said, “we will hit every site and every target of the Ayatollahs’ regime, and what they have felt so far is nothing compared with what they will be handed in the coming days,” Reports quoted Netanyahu as saying that; “its campaign would intensify,” even as Tehran called off nuclear talks initiated by Washington to halt the bombing.
The attack came a day after Israel wiped out top echelon of Iran’s military command with a surprise onslaught. Israel said it had attacked more than 150 targets while Iranian authorities claimed around 60 people, including 29 children, were killed in an attack on a housing complex, with more strikes reported across the country.
Consequently, Iran is angry, bitter, utterly pained and devastated. The words of the leader of Iranian Revolution, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei resonates with this anguish in a defiant and fiery statement delivered on Friday, June 13, he condemned Israel’s surprise aerial and drone assault on Iran’s key military and nuclear infrastructure, accusing the Israeli government of launching an unprovoked war. He vowed that “the Zionist regime will not remain unscathed from the consequences of its crime.”
Khamenei declared in a national broadcast that; “Israel will not be allowed to carry out hit-and-run attacks without grave consequences, vowing that Israel will face retribution far greater than it expects.” He emphasised that; the Iranian military is fully mobilised and backed by the political establishment and civilian population. “Our armed forces are prepared, and the country’s officials and all segments of the people stand firmly behind them,” he added. To assert Iranian pride and sovereignty, it has embarked on a blistering aerial attack on Israel.
On Sunday, Israel’s military said; “more missiles were launched from Iran towards Israel, and that it was also attacking military targets in Tehran.” Iranian state television reported that Iran had launched missiles and drones at Israel. Several projectiles were visible in the sky over Jerusalem early on Sunday morning. Reacting to the attack, Kernow Damo an independent journalist and self-proclaimed Left-wing political news blogger said; “for months, Israeli officials and media outlets have laid the groundwork for this escalation against Iran, especially after the attacks mounted last year, by recycling an old and largely debunked narrative: that Iran is on the verge of developing nuclear weapons.
This fear mongering is not new. It dates back decades and has never materialised into a verified threat. That Israel has nuclear weapons and refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), while Iran remains a signatory and allows inspections, underlines the deep hypocrisy.” He noted that according to Tulsi Gabbard, as pointed out by the BBC, “no credible evidence has ever demonstrated that Iran is developing nuclear weapons and the recent reports made by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that after 20 years Iran are all of a sudden now, just ahead of this attack, that had apparently been planned for the last 8 months incidentally, no longer compliant stinks of being leaned on by Israel, the US or both.”
The role of global military industrial complex as merchants of killer goods and services sustaining war and conflicts around the world cannot be disassociated from this escalation. People should understand that part of the business of this group is the sale of bullets and accessories associated with conflicts and it is only in war business of this nature thrives. It is this business without morality that fuels conflicts all over the world. There are always varying narratives for or against wars and conflicts.
When Russia attacked Ukraine, the world was obviously fed with junks of whys and up till today peace has eluded both countries and it will not return soon.
Pundits who major in comparative studies in politics and conflicts especially as it relates to the existing antagonism among Palestine-Israel-and Iran are in agreement that this aggression is a show of power and supremacy battle of who should lord it over and take the front wheel of leadership of the swath or major part of the middle-east and by extension its rich resources.
With oil asset and other vast mineral resources strategically at its disposal, the global interest in the middle-east conflict goes beyond simple emotional outburst for or against religious or regional alignments. The reflection is far deeper than ordinarily thinking why Saudi Arabia, Syria or Jordan should align with Israel instead of Gaza or Iran in time of need or trouble. The global community is governed by vested state interests engraved in pacts, bilateral relations and agreements signed on behalf of citizens to the benefit of a few.
And the policy must be sustained by all means for economic interest, stability, peace and progress of those individuals involved and benefiting. The sustenance comes with blind support and loyalty to those concerned without questioning rationality. The grave consequences is always the challenge confronting the world at the moment.
The only narrative recommended for this hostility between Israel and Iran, the ongoing Russia and Ukraine war and possibly more global crises that may soon erupt is that of unyielding stand for renewed peace and reconciliation. In moments like this, the global community speak up for peace; ironically a clear road map for implementation will never be conscientiously developed. It makes no sense supporting either of the two nations whose actions inflict pain on humanity and still remain impartial.
No matter the justification for war, the price for peace is gold and remains supreme. In an article written by Ian Parmeter, Research Scholar, Middle East Studies, Australian National University, he opined that; “Israel will probably be able to destroy Iran’s existing nuclear facilities, but it’s only a question of when – not if – Iran will reconstitute them. There is also the likelihood that, Iran’s attempt to secure a nuclear bomb in order to deter future Israeli attacks will be much higher. And the region will remain in a precarious place.” In the end, it is still better to jaw-jaw than to war-war.
Sunday Onyemaechi Eze is a lecturer, Department of Mass Communication and Head, Partnership and Internationalisation, Coal City University, Enugu
