- It’s becoming increasingly apparent to the global community that the crisis engulfing the Middle East and West Asia is not going away anytime soon. People around the globe must be wondering how the rapidly unfolding events will impact us in more than one way. Is World War III in the offing? Will the crisis blow away without having more severe consequences for the universe? What would the cornered Iranian leadership do amid mounting bombardment from the Israeli and the USA military forces? What happens to the critical crude oil supply across the world? Will the smooth functioning of the trade be affected, further impacting the already tenuous economies around the world? The questions galore will be difficult to answer in easy terms.
PC: Axios
- The geopolitical and geostrategic scenario will keep altering as the days pass. The mature leadership around the world should make earnest attempts at stopping the conflict from escalating to unknown and uncontrollable territories. It begs the question, what are the real positives for the US after it hit Iran? The possible negatives are plenty, though. As you know, Fordow is gone, as Trump posted on Truth Social last week, even before experts had time to analyse the aftermath of the raid. In his telling, Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. If that’s true, Israel is the lone, undisputed nuclear power in West Asia now, and the war must stop at once. The objectives have already been achieved, then.
PC: NDTV
- For eradicating Iran’s bomb-making infrastructure was the stated aim of Israel’s June 13 strikes. Trump has also announced that the objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity. Yes, you can’t hold Trump to his word. As late as June 10, he said to avoid a conflict. Yet, on June 13, after Israel’s airstrikes, he admitted to having known everything. Trump, the consummate dealmaker, perhaps reckons that a humbled Iran will sue for peace. But this isn’t business. Here’s a regime fighting with its back to the wall. Isolated and sanctioned for 46 years, it derives legitimacy from strength, or a semblance of it. It cannot cower before Trump’s threat if peace does not come quickly. And Iran has not run out of moves yet. That’s the worry, you see.
PC: India Today
- Note that although it shouldn’t, Iran can still attack military bases in the region that house 40,000 US troops. Iran can also inflict pain globally, as it threatened last week, by shutting off the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s oil passes. So, wittingly or otherwise, Trump has walked America and his MAGA voters into another West Asia swamp after vowing not to do so. And for what? Whose war is Trump fighting then, and what will it achieve, besides steeling Iran’s resolve to build its nuclear deterrent, like N Korea? Each GBU-57 that Trump’s B-2s dropped shook the international order last week. Global treaties like the NPT and principles of engagement are under a cloud now. And with Pakistan in Trump’s embrace, India should be very watchful.
