Trump’s Tantrums Cost Global Peace As War Enters Sixth Month
With the war against Iran entering its sixth month, the whole world is now faced with profound uncertainty and surging energy crisis for the sake of just one man’s eccentricities and idiosyncrasies.
On February 28, when the US and Israel had attacked Iran, a war which was absolutely unnecessary and illegal, President Donald Trump had told the world he would ‘finish the job’ fast either through negotiations or renewed military strikes. He even declared that “Iran was totally defeated and wants a deal”.
On June 16, President Trump had said he and vice president Vance had signed electronically a document with the Iranians to end the war formally. He had announced that Iran had agreed to open the Hormuz Strait, and that the US had won the war.
On June 20, Iran had warned that the “closure of the Strait of Hormuz would be the first step” if ‘aggression’ continued.
Iran’s top military command first announced the closure of the Strait on March 2, citing alleged US non-compliance with a peace agreement and continued Israeli military operations in Lebanon. Subsequently, Iran had enforced the Strait of Hormuz closure on April 18, June 20 and early July.
Cartoon by Suparno Chaudhuri
Meanwhile, in an interview with CGTN on March 14, renowned economist Prof Jeffrey Sachs had said that the US and Israel had ‘underestimated’ Iran. He also added that over the past 25 years the US military had attacked countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Venezuela.
After the initial ceasefire deal, the US economist had expressed doubt saying: “Is it a peace deal or tactical pause?” The deal, mediated by Pakistan, was extremely “fragile given that Israel was not a formal party to the agreement”, the professor and policy analyst added.
The agreement, Prof Sachs had said, seemed to call for an end of hostilities. The phrase that the Pakistani announcement used, Prof Sachs added, was “a permanent end to hostilities. It ostensibly comes in phases, and two broad phases. One is to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and the international oil and gas traffic. And the second phase is about the nuclear issues….”
Prof Sachs also said: “It seemed that the agreement does not include other kinds of demands that the US had once upon a time put on the table about Iran’s missile system or its support for other groups in the region such as Hezbollah…”
How prophetic!
The war against Iran has triggered an unprecedented global energy crisis. Iran’s strategy of blocking the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most vital energy maritime choke point, has made Trump bewildered and baffled. What the entire world has been witnessing is that an intransigent Iran, a country of about 90 million people, has been fighting for survival.
For Iran, it’s not a war of choice — it’s a battle for existence — a battle for which the nation was preparing from the 1979 sanctions, largely spearheaded by the US and the UN. The sanctions had caused a significant economic strain on the Khomeini regime.
Military analysts and intelligence guys are stunned by Iran’s retaliatory resilience. Iran has already proved its ‘missile dominance’. It is intriguing to see how Iran’s drone threat is driving President Trump’s growing interest in Ukraine’s defense industry.
According to Central Command, which directs military operations in Middle-east, the US has hit more than 13,000 targets in Iran until airstrikes resumed in July. An estimated 17,000 civilians have been killed in Iran by the airstrikes and many more injured critically. Iran’s infrastructure suffered unimaginable damage.
Even though the Trump administration announced a pause in the airstrikes on July 25 after two weeks of bombardment, political analyst are far from optimistic.
With the President Trump’s popularity rating hitting a new low barely three months before the mid-term election in November, he is at his wit’s end and completely confused and is scrambling for an honorable exit route. He’s trapped between escalating military expenditure and rising domestic economic pressures.
With the surging energy costs triggering inflation spike and also causing gasoline price rise in the US, middle-class Americans are bearing the brunt of the relentless airstrikes in Iran.
The US President had thought what the Delta Force commandoes had done in Venezuela in January this year, he would do the same on Iran. Sadly enough, he is incapable of understanding the simple truth that he’s been waging a war against a country whose civilization is almost 5,000 years old.
Let’s recall what Mahatma Gandhi had said: “Humanity is like an ocean. If a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”
We have faith in humanity, Mr President. Please stop bombing and leave the Persian Gulf to ensure global peace and stability.
