Israel, an undeclared nuclear state, continues to enjoy impunity for both its nuclear ambiguity and its well-documented genocide. If the world has to be multipolar and free of the US-Israel state terrorism — China, Russia, BRICS, OIC, and the rational West have to stand united against it.
The world stands at a perilous crossroads. In a flagrant display of militarized impunity, the United States has launched direct airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities — targeting what Tehran asserts are peaceful, civilian installations. The operation, dubbed “Midnight Hammer”, was orchestrated not only to incapacitate Iran’s nuclear ambitions but to send an unmistakable message: the global order will be dictated by might, not right. With the unrelenting support of Israel, and a complicit silence — or even encouragement — of several Western allies, this strike marks a chilling escalation in a long-brewing confrontation.
The realpolitik behind this aggression is clear. In a world where the United Nations falters and international law is trampled under the boots of power, what Iran faces today is not an isolated act of war. It is part of a coordinated campaign — military, diplomatic, and psychological — to cripple any Muslim nation that dares to stand independently, or worse, seeks nuclear technology even for peaceful purposes. This is not about non-proliferation. It’s about power preservation.
For decades, a nuclear club of elite states has declared who may and may not possess weapons — or even civilian nuclear programs. The United States, France, the UK, and their NATO allies remain unchallenged in their capacity to destroy the planet multiple times over. Israel, an undeclared nuclear state, continues to enjoy impunity for both its nuclear ambiguity and its well-documented violations of human rights in Palestine.
The strikes on Iran come in the immediate aftermath of what many human rights defenders are calling a genocide in Gaza — an industrial-scale annihilation of a civilian population, carried out with U.S.-made weapons and shielded by American vetoes at the United Nations. Entire neighborhoods have been erased. Hospitals, refugee camps, and places of worship turned into rubble. Yet no sanctions, no military reprisals, no international tribunals.
Instead, a battered Muslim nation — already reeling from years of sanctions and cyber warfare — is being bombarded for allegedly threatening “peace” with nuclear energy.
For those willing to connect the dots, a dangerous pattern emerges. After Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Yemen, Iran stands in line as the next target. One by one, Muslim states that once had the capacity or ambition to develop independent defense or energy capabilities have been destabilized. The end goal? A redrawn Middle East — one that aligns with the dream of a “Greater Israel,” and secures the strategic dominance of the US-NATO axis.
It is a strategy that strengthens not only Zionist expansionism but also reasserts American unipolarity at a time when global multipolarity was gaining traction through the likes of China, Russia, BRICS, and regional powers asserting sovereignty.
We are witnessing the weaponization of diplomacy and the militarization of global politics. This isn’t just about Iran, or even the Middle East. It’s a worldwide message: fall in line with Washington, or face obliteration.
Let us call Gaza what it is: the site of a modern-day holocaust. A term loaded with painful history, yes — but when used with precision, it demands moral clarity. More than 75,000 Palestinians have been killed just in the recent strikes. Children mutilated. Starvation created by intentional destruction of water, food, and medicine supplies. All this in real time, under the watch of satellite imagery, smartphones, and a global media landscape.
What’s worse is the normalization of these atrocities. The use of “self-defense” as a blanket license for slaughter. The distortion of international law to fit the political ambitions of settler-colonial regimes. History, we were told, would never repeat itself. And yet, here it is, echoing through the ruins of Gaza.
The question now is simple: how long can the rest of the world remain spectators, and keep calling for restraint? The UN, the OIC, the Arab League — all have issued statements, but none have matched the scale or urgency of the violence being inflicted. The Western-led security apparatus is too deeply entrenched in the architecture of Israel’s impunity to hold it accountable. If the world truly wants to stop the genocide of humanity, the time for rhetoric is over. It is time for action.
The Global South must organize a counter-alliance — politically, economically, and, if needed, militarily — to push back against this axis of aggression. Iran, whatever one may think of its internal politics, has become a symbolic line in the sand. Supporting its right to defend itself, and even to retaliate against unlawful aggression, is no longer a question of regional balance, but a question of global justice.
Let’s be clear: supporting Iran does not mean endorsing war. It means rejecting a world order built on systemic state terrorism by the might, and the nuclear blackmail. It means refusing to accept that only a select few can wield destructive power with impunity. It means standing against the genocide in Gaza, the bullying of sovereign states, and the ideological militarism of a regime that values land more than life.
The strikes on Iran are not just an attack on a nation. They are an attack on the very idea of a pluralistic, fair, and lawful international order. They are an affront to the memory of all those who died in past holocausts and genocides. And they are a wake-up call to every global citizen who still believes in peace through justice — not dominance.
If the world doesn’t act now — if it doesn’t coalesce around a vision that stands against state-sponsored terrorism — we will bequeath to future generations not peace, but perpetual war. Let history not say we remained silent.
The writer is an Executive Director, Devcom Centre for Geopolitical Studies, development expert and policy analyst focused on regional cooperation and climate diplomacy. His email: devcom.Pakistan@gmail.com
