Latest news with #ParniaAbbasi
Al Jazeera
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
By bombing Iran, the US continues to make the world safe for war
It seems like just yesterday that United States President Donald Trump was pushing a 'diplomatic resolution' to the Iranian nuclear issue. Now, the US has joined Israel's illegal assault on Iran, striking three Iranian nuclear sites on Saturday in what Trump has boasted was a 'very successful attack'. As CNN dramatically put it, 'a midsummer night in June 2025 could come to be remembered as the moment the Middle East changed forever; when the fear of nuclear annihilation was lifted from Israel; when Iran's power was neutered and America's soared'. Of course, a 'fear of nuclear annihilation' has nothing to do with Israel's current strikes on Iran, which have been dutifully portrayed in the US media as targeting military and nuclear facilities but have somehow managed to slaughter hundreds of civilians. The victims include 23-year-old poet Parnia Abbasi, killed along with her family as they slept in their Tehran apartment building. As is clear as day to anyone not in the business of defending Israeli depredations, the attacks on Iran are simply a war of convenience for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is killing all sorts of birds with one stone in his campaign against Iranian nuclear facilities. In addition to distracting the world from Israel's ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip, where starving Palestinians continue to be massacred on a daily basis as they seek food and other aid, Netanyahu has also managed to divert attention from his own embroilment in numerous corruption charges at home. Plus, the war on Iran is wildly popular among Israelis, which translates into big points for a prime minister who has faced significant domestic opposition. Trump's initial insistence on diplomacy with Iran naturally got Netanyahu's panties into a giant bunch – but the situation has now been rectified by the midsummer night's bombing, which, according to the president, has 'obliterated' Iran's nuclear sites. To be sure, Iran has long occupied US crosshairs, with many an establishment figure salivating at the prospect of bombing the country to smithereens. Some have salivated more openly than others, as in the case of John Bolton – a former US ambassador to the United Nations and briefly the national security adviser in the first Trump administration – who in 2015 took to the opinion pages of The New York Times with the following advice: 'To Stop Iran's Bomb, Bomb Iran.' That the editors of the US newspaper of record did not bat an eye in publishing such a blatant call for the violation of international law is indicative of the extent to which Iran has been thoroughly demonised in US society and media. Recall that in 2002, then-US President George W Bush appointed the nation to his infamous 'axis of evil' along with Iraq and North Korea. And yet, aside from being a persistent thorn in the side of US imperialism, Iran's behaviour has been rather less apparently, um, 'evil' than certain other international actors – like the US itself. For instance, Iran is not the one currently funding a straight-up genocide to the tune of tens of billions of dollars. Nor is Iran the one that has spent the past several decades bombing and otherwise antagonising folks in every corner of the world – from backing right-wing state terror in Latin America to conducting mass slaughter in Vietnam. Furthermore, the sole clandestine nuclear weapons power in the Middle East is not Iran but Israel, which has refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and has never allowed UN safeguards on its facilities. Those who applaud the strikes on Iran citing the 'oppressive' nature of the Iranian government would, meanwhile, do well to revisit the US track record of fuelling oppression in the country. In 1953, the CIA orchestrated a coup d'etat against Iran's democratically elected leader, Mohammad Mossadegh, which paved the way for the extended reign of the torture-happy shah. Historian Ervand Abrahamian notes in his book A History of Modern Iran: 'Arms dealers joked that the shah devoured their manuals in much the same way as other men read Playboy.' Indeed, the shah's obsessive acquisition of US weaponry did much to enable his rule by terror, which was put to an end by the Iranian Revolution of 1979. And the Iranian nuclear programme that Trump has now bombed? It was started by that very same shah. Now, arms dealers are presumably not too upset over the midsummer night's events and the general escalation of the crisis in the Middle East. For his part, Netanyahu has gone out of his way to thank Trump for his 'bold decision' to go after Iran 'with the awesome and righteous might of the United States'. In Netanyahu's words, Trump's action will 'change history' – as though making the world safe for more war is anything new. And as the US media scramble to justify illegal attacks on a sovereign nation, the sinister hypocrisy of two heavily nuclear-armed nations undertaking to police nuclear 'threats' cannot be overstated. It is anyone's guess what Trump, who prides himself on spontaneous and manic behaviour, will do next. But rest assured that, whatever happens, the arms industry won't be going hungry any time soon. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.
Indian Express
4 days ago
- Indian Express
Iranian poet Parnia Abbasi, 23, among civilians killed in Israeli missile strike
Parnia Abbasi, a 23-year-old poet and a graduate in English, was killed alongside her parents and younger brother when an Israeli missile struck their apartment building in Tehran on Friday, according to The New York Times and The Washington Post. The Abbasi family had moved just six months ago into a new three-bedroom apartment in the Orkideh Complex on Sattarkhan Street — a long-awaited dream that ended in rubble. Parnia Abbasi was set to turn 24 next week. According to relatives, the missile hit the centre of the building, causing the structure to collapse. 'They had bought this house under great financial pressure so that the children could have their own rooms,' said a relative, Hassan. 'The love between this family was the envy of everyone. They were always together.' Abbasi had graduated from Qazvin University with a degree in English and was working at the National Bank of Iran, where her mother had also spent her career before retiring. A writer and translator, Abbasi had recently passed Iran's competitive graduate entrance exam in management but chose to delay her studies to continue working. 'I looked at all my life events as stories I could write,' The New York Times quoted her saying during a poetry panel for young writers. Her friend Maryam, who was supposed to meet her that morning, said through tears, 'She was everything — a poet, a teacher, a daughter.' One of Abbasi's last poems, recalled by Maryam and reported by Tehran Times, reads like: 'I burn, I fade, I become a silent star, That turns into smoke In your sky…' The missile strike that destroyed the Orkideh Complex is part of Israel's ongoing offensive targeting Iran's nuclear and military infrastructure. While Israel insists it does not target civilians, The New York Times reported that hundreds of non-combatants have died in the violence. Abbasi's 14-year-old brother, Parham, a student, was among the dead. Their bodies were pulled from the rubble soon after the strike, while their parents' remains were recovered hours later. The building's Block 4, which had 10 apartments, saw complete destruction from floors three to five. 'It seems everyone in those units is gone,' Maryam said. Parnia Abbasi's story is one among many. The New York Times also reported that an 8-year-old girl, a national equestrian champion, and a graphic designer who worked with National Geographic are among those killed in recent Israeli strikes. As the war enters its second week, the Iranian Ministry of Health has yet to release updated casualty figures. According to AP, Israel's air campaign has targeted several nuclear and military sites, killing senior generals and nuclear scientists. A Washington-based Iranian human rights group reported that at least 639 people have been killed in Iran, including 263 civilians, and over 1,300 injured. In retaliation, Iran has launched around 400 missiles and hundreds of drones, killing at least 24 people in Israel and wounding hundreds. (With inputs from The New York Times, The Washington post, Tehran Times, AP)
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Iran: At least 224 people killed in Israeli strikes, most of them civilians
'You and I will come to an end somewhere. The most beautiful poem in the world falls quiet,' 23 year-old Parnia Abbasi wrote, who was among at least 224 Iranians killed so far by Israeli strikes. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh takes a closer look at the toll on civilians across Iran.
