In 1953 the democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh, was overthrown by international oil interests, with the assistance of MI6 and the CIA.
In 1979, America’s friend Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was ousted, and the country became a Shi’a Islamic Republic, which promised democracy but delivered clerical autocracy, via Ayatollah Khomeini and then Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who once issued a personal fatwa declaring the production and use of nuclear weapons ‘forbidden’ under Islam.
Like US President Donald Trump, he’s a big fan of Les Misérables, and enjoys using the military and justice system to punish his internal opponents.
Khamenei has brought Iran closer to its allies Russia and China, while accusing the United States of terrorism, and calling for the destruction of Israel, which he has described as ‘a cancerous tumour of a state’.
Now the self-described ‘peace president’ Donald Trump has done exactly what Benjamin Netanyahu wanted, and deployed bunker-busting bombs against Iranian nuclear facilities, in clear defiance of US and international law.
What next?
It’s unclear how much damage has actually been done to Iranian nuclear weapons development by the latest bombing, but the hypocrisy of two nuclear-armed countries attacking another nation in this way, without even seeking the support of their own people, let alone the UN, is blatant.
As with Iraq’s supposed weapons of mass destruction in 2003, there’s no evidence that Iran was even close to developing a nuclear weapon, despite decades of claims to that effect.
Donald Trump sabotaged earlier efforts to defuse the Iran situation peacefully last time he was in office. Now he’s decided the lure of the big red button and the distraction value of things going boom was more attractive than his long-coveted Nobel Peace Prize.
The man who was elected on the promise of ending America’s forever wars has kicked the biggest hornet’s nest he could find, and potentially enmeshed his country and its allies in decades of further conflict.
After the initial shock and awe, military operations in Iraq lasted for many years, cost over a trillion dollars and caused the loss of millions of human lives, most of them civilians, as well as horrendous environmental destruction, and the ongoing destabilisation and radicalisation of a large area of the Middle East.
What will be the human cost of this new war? Which corporations will profit? If the Strait of Hormuz is closed, will the world be driven into economic crisis?
Ludicrously, Trump’s social media post which announced his military attack on Iran included the statement, ‘NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE!’ The man who thinks reality is his personal construction apparently believes starting a war is the same thing as opening peace negotiations.
De-escalation
Here in Australia, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is yet to make a statement about the latest bombings, but a government spokesman called for ‘de-escalation, dialogue and diplomacy,’ noting that the security situation in the region is highly volatile.
By contrast, the Coalition came out in open support of Trump’s unilateral action, which acting Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister and former military man Andrew Hastie described as ‘necessary’.
As Hastie told reporters in WA, ‘We could never accept a nuclear Iran – Iran is a repressive, theocratic autocracy, and it’s a sponsor of terrorism.’ Unfortunately, those exact words could also describe the United States emerging under the reign of Donald Trump, with the role of the evangelicals becoming a particular worry.
Will Sussan Ley walk back or reinforce Hastie’s stance at her appearance at the National Press Club this week?
Meanwhile in Iran, at least 430 people have died as a result of Israel’s latest attacks on the country, and at least 24 in Israel, while the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza continues unabated. If the goal of all this is regime change, then history should remind everyone involved that they should be very careful what they wish for. Bombing rarely results in gratitude from those on the ground, no matter how much they hate their rulers.
As the man in the long red tie would say, thank you for your attention to this matter.
Originally from Canberra, David Lowe is an award-winning filmmaker, writer and photographer with particular interests in the environment and politics. He’s known for his campaigning work with Cloudcatcher Media.
You can find more of his writing at Patreon and Gumroad.
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