Diplomacy or Deception? The Middle East Escalation Between Iran Versus U. S. and Israel

In order to grasp what stimulated the turbulence in the Middle East as we speak, one must firstly look at the contours of the matter to know the cause before expounding their thoughts on the conflagration. For more than two (2) months, Iranian students have taken onto the principal streets of Tehran and other areas in the country on the basis of economic hardship and also echoing anti-regime slogans—in simplicity, that the regime should step down with immediacy.

And interestingly, we saw the interference of the man who has turned the U.S. presidency into his private enterprise, Donald Trump, who thinks that he is above everything, like a man who is on top of the moon and feels that he has arrived—breaching every law that guides the world, coupled with his failed economic policy and terrorisation of U.S. citizens and harmless migrants with his so-called ICE—pledging his support for the students who were protesting against the government by enunciating that any attempt by the Iranian government to take drastic actions against the protesters, he would step in defence of them and somewhat take harsh decisions against the authority in power. He said it is the students’ right to agitate against their government, which I am fully in support of.

But if we may ask Mr Trump, why is it that there is a crackdown on protesters in recent times in the U.S. under his stewardship? There is a video circulating of a woman being arrested by police—why? Because she was airing her view on Maduro’s kidnapping by Mr Trump and his cronies.

Fast forward, the spoilt brat that is unarguably noted for instigating instability and conflicts in the region was seen encouraging the protesters that it is now time to take their destiny into their hands and chart the course of their future by maintaining the pressure on the regime and subsequently evicting the regime. And we saw the dramatic change in the protest from an issue-driven protest metamorphosing into a politically motivated one that resulted in the vandalisation of government assets, burning of tyres, chanting of anti-regime slogans, among others. But, however, the government took decisive action to quell the matter, even though there was still mounting pressure.

Unsurprisingly, the U.S. and Israel sent undercover operators to form part of the protest in order to augment the already made flame in the fire. But to our dismay, the regime, based on security intelligence, smartly managed to track those elements and dealt with them decisively. Since Mr Trump and Netanyahu realised that things were not playing according to their book—in simple terms, in their favour—they smartly decided in their crockery to raise the debate regarding Iran’s nuclear programme, which last year in June he informed the public they had obliterated—approximately 99.9%—and that it would take them a long time to repair the damage caused by the attack.

How come POTUS and the heartless warmonger Netanyahu are here telling us that they need to stop Iran’s nuclear programme when they previously made us believe that they had eliminated the country’s entire nuclear programme? Were they lied to or fooled by their intelligence officers? Or are they having an underlying motive? This we will know later as we sequentially dive into the antecedents of the matter.

So, in order to steer clear of any confrontation or aggression from the U.S., Iran decided to go into a proposed negotiation with the U.S. The first dialogue was held in Geneva, Switzerland, this year, but both parties did not find common ground due to the demand of the United States that Iran should stop her nuclear programme and all forms of weapon production—which will leave Iran vulnerable to Israel’s aggression—a calculated plan to militarily decapitate Iran as a major force in the region that is confronting Israel’s aggression, which under no circumstances Iran is willing to accept at their detriment. And this underscores the hidden intent of the U.S., using this as a means of just finding a fault in Iran and launching an aggression—whether it is substantive or not, all she cares about is having a reason for her action.

However, a second phase of the dialogue was scheduled in Oman, as American and Iranian representatives met to discuss how to resolve the matter through diplomacy. While the dialogue was ongoing, Mr Trump was seen on social media making inflammatory statements that undermined the negotiation itself, demanding at all costs that Iran must accept whatever he says in the deal or face the wrath of the United States. Is this diplomacy? Is this the way a man who wants peace talks? I do not think so. It just clearly depicts how hawkish and ruthless the U.S. is in terms of going the extra mile to accomplish its aims and objectives—even at the expense of innocent lives that have nothing to do with what they are into.

In validating our previous assertion about the U.S. desperation and clandestine motive, on March 1, Saturday morning, in a joint strike, the U.S. and Israel launched an offensive attack in Iran while diplomatic negotiation was going through. The U.S. and Israel called it a “pre-emptive strike”. What is pre-emptive about it? Is bombing and killing the same students that you claimed you were going to defend justifying your previous claim of fighting for them? But this is not startling to us who know the double standard of the U.S. It was the same situation last year; while in the middle of negotiation on the same matter, Mr Trump abruptly ordered the striking of Iran, where he pronounced to the general public that they had completely destroyed the nuclear site of Iran—which turned out to be a blatant lie. So, why should it be surprising when he has just repeated the same drama of last year?

The bombing reflected a flagrant disregard for international law—a tool they used for many years to castigate other nations that opposed their views. At that time, Iran retaliated to their attack by bombing Israel and their military base in Qatar. But this time around, Iran fiercely retaliated with a vigour never seen before since its confrontation with the U.S. and Israel. Iran retaliated by bombing Israel and American military bases in Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Oman. The U.S. did not expect such a forceful and ruthless response. And frankly, this depicts the might of Iran as a regional hegemon in the Middle East.

While the missile exchanges were still ongoing, we knew that martyr Ayatollah Khamenei was a potential target of assassination; however, we asserted that the assassination of Khamenei would not curb the uproar but would further intensify the confrontation. Others thought we were speaking out of our minds, but they failed to realise that we were looking at the bigger picture. So, unfortunately, during the same first day of the missile exchanges in the evening, we received the heartbreaking and devastating news of Khamenei being killed at his residence due to a strike by the U.S. and Israel directed at his residence that wrecked the place down to ashes.

Contrary to what the U.S. and Israel expected, it reunited the people against the aggression meted towards them as a people and country. At Khamenei’s body parade, you could see the attendance of people in their masses and glorifying the gallantry he exhibited when he was alive with a salute; you could see the reflection of patriotism and readiness to bear the brunt in battling the enemy with all they have. His killing further ignited the flames of the fire and bombardment intensified across the Gulf and in Israel. It validated our analysis that it would overturn nothing or shift the paradigm of Iran’s might to retaliate. It only augmented their vigour to purge against their adversaries at any length possible.

Additionally, this led to Iran declaring the Strait of Hormuz closed until otherwise stated, and any attempt by any ship to dare try passing that route, they will bomb it. And this is not Iran’s first time issuing this kind of caveat; it happened last year, and there were ships that made an attempt to challenge Iran’s command, and those ships were bombed with no hesitation. The Strait of Hormuz accounts for 20% of the world’s goods and services transported to other parts of the world—most especially oil. As we speak, Europe has already started feeling the pinch of the Strait of Hormuz closure.

What is interesting about the conflict is that Iran is now saying that she will determine how the conflict ends. Why do you think Iran is saying this? Because the U.S. and Israel seem not to want any peace and tranquillity at all in the region, on the grounds that whenever there is negotiation to mitigate the problem between them and Iran, the two countries are always in the habit of abruptly leaving the negotiation table and launching a provocative attack without being provoked. So, how reliable are they to be trusted in any peace deal when they are in the constant habit of abruptly leaving the dialogue table to devolve into aggression?

In conclusion, from all the evidence that we have garnered thus far, the U.S. and Israel are the real aggressors, and they need to be condemned and drastic actions must be taken against them to put a halt to their hawkish behaviour. As radical thinkers who believe in standing against imperialistic aggression and supporting the truth, we stand with the Islamic Republic of Iran against these reactionaries who continue to inflict chaos and mayhem on innocent people.

Down with imperialist forces! Down with Western capitalist aggression! Forward social justice and academic freedom!

“Homeland or death, we will win.”

Aluta continua!!!