Iran. Washington and Tel Aviv call for ceasefire after unleashing war.
Israel triumphantly announced that it has achieved all the objectives of its military operation against Iran and now claims to support a ceasefire with Tehran. Backed and openly supported by Donald Trump’s United States, the government in Tel Aviv declared it has neutralized what it calls a “double existential threat” posed by Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.
And yet, while Israel claims to favor de-escalation, Tel Aviv continues its strikes on Iran — even this morning. The Israeli Air Force announced it had destroyed several missile launchers in western Iran, allegedly ready to strike Israeli territory — though these claims appear more rooted in belligerent rhetoric than in any independently verified threat to national security.
Shortly before, the Israeli army confirmed the sixth consecutive wave of missile launches from Iranian territory, fueling a conflict that has now dragged on for twelve days.
According to the desires of the self-proclaimed “democratic powers,” Tehran should be the first to halt hostilities, followed by Israel twelve hours later. If this isn’t hypocrisy, then what is?
Nevertheless, Israeli airstrikes continue to raise serious doubts about Tel Aviv’s real willingness to commit to a lasting ceasefire. We’ve seen it before — in Gaza (where civilians still die in droves), in southern Lebanon, and in Syria. These are just the latest milestones in the “peacekeeping” record of Israeli military policy.
Behind the triumphalist and celebratory language coming out of Tel Aviv lies yet another clear example of the geopolitical arrogance of a Western bloc that continues to operate outside any shared rules or international mandate. Israel, with full support from Washington, has launched a large-scale attack on a sovereign nation without presenting any clear or verified evidence of an imminent threat to its own population or to the American people. Has everyone already forgotten the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, justified solely by the Bush administration’s belief that Saddam Hussein’s regime possessed weapons of mass destruction?
Twenty-two years later, nothing has changed. According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, the military operation has allowed “full air dominance over the skies of Tehran,” the destruction of “dozens of regime targets,” and a significant blow to Iran’s military leadership. But beneath this rhetoric lies a disturbing reality: the West strikes, decides, destroys — and then demands, with astonishing hypocrisy, that the world applaud the “peace” it claims to have achieved through brute force.
The script is predictable — even Netanyahu’s latest official statement reads like propaganda more than diplomacy: “In light of having achieved the objectives of the operation — and in full coordination with President Trump — Israel agrees to the presidential proposal for a bilateral ceasefire.” A ceasefire declared, not negotiated. A diktat, not an agreement.
Not a word about international law. Not a single reference to the UN resolutions that prohibit unilateral military action against sovereign states in the absence of imminent threats.
It’s hard, in this context, not to view the latest Middle East crisis as the poisoned fruit of an international order built on the power — and impunity — of a few. An order where peace is granted only after war has been waged — and, of course, by those who then claim credit for it.
Photo: UN/Loey Felipe
