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Newsweek
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Newsweek
Iranians Put Faith in Diplomacy. Israel and Trump Shattered Their Hopes
Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the interpretation of facts and data. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Every night for the last week, my family in Tehran wakes up to the Earth shaking as missiles strike and children scream. When the bombs go silent, they hear drones buzzing—a constant reminder they're being watched by the foreign army assaulting their city. Last week, Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran. Over 600 people have died, the majority civilians, including entire families killed while asleep. It has bombed Iran's state TV live on air, killing at least one journalist. Israeli bombs have hit hospitals and ambulances, killing paramedics. Medical facilities are overflowing with the injured. Smoke rises from the state media building targeted by Israel in the north of Tehran, Iran, on June 18, 2025, as the military confrontation between Iran and Israel escalates. Smoke rises from the state media building targeted by Israel in the north of Tehran, Iran, on June 18, 2025, as the military confrontation between Iran and Israel escalates. NIKAN/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images Israel says it targets military bases and nuclear sites. But its bombs have struck homes across the country. President Donald Trump said Tehran should evacuate—a threat to the entire civilian population. Tehran is a vast city of 10 million people. In June, the flowers are in bloom and the rivers overflow with glacier water. Mountain hiking paths fill with people. Tehran is also a diverse city. I lived near a church, close to a synagogue and Zoroastrian temple. There are Sunni and Shiite Muslims, atheists and Baha'is, Afghan and Iraqi refugees. Today everyone in Tehran is experiencing terror. Israel gives evacuation orders, like in Gaza and Lebanon. But it's impossible for everyone to leave. Many orders go out at night, when Iranians are asleep. Israel has hit fuel depots, causing gasoline shortages. On Monday, Israel told residents of District 3 to leave—300,000 people live there, including my family. They have nowhere to go. Many of my friends have also stayed to take care of elderly relatives. Those who can say goodbye to their homes, unsure if or when they'll return. They fear being bombed on the road, just like people killed in Gaza and Lebanon, or by Israeli bombs in Tehran. Just last week, my family was planning for summer holidays. My cousins wanted to rent a cabin near the beaches of the Caspian Sea. Instead, they are praying bombs don't kill them in their sleep. It didn't have to be this way. Last week, Iran and the United States were in the middle of negotiations. They'd spent months working out a deal. They already made a deal once before: the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The 2015 Iran Nuclear Agreement led to joyful celebrations in Tehran. I'll never forget the optimism among friends and family. Both the U.S. and Iran held up their end of the bargain. Until Trump came to power and quit the deal in 2018. Former President Joe Biden campaigned on returning to the deal. But when he became president, he broke his promise. Instead, the U.S. continued crippling sanctions on Iran. They have been devastating for civilians. The currency has lost most of its value. Medicines have become hard to find, leading to preventable deaths. Ironically, sanctions strengthened the regime by encouraging smuggling, concentrating wealth among oligarchs. Sanctions did succeed in one thing: crushing ordinary Iranians. They weakened civil society, small businesses, and academic and cultural associations. For decades, Iranians have organized, protested, and rebelled for greater freedom. They have also advocated for better relations with the U.S. But America's betrayal of the deal—and its support for Israel's surprise attack—has undermined peace-loving Iranians. Every time Trump goes back on his word, it's a message Americans can't be trusted. Iranians have many reasons not to trust America, like the 1953 CIA coup that overthrew their democratically-elected government and put the tyrannical Shah back in power. Or U.S. support for Saddam Hussein when he used chemical weapons against Iranians. But Iranians kept fighting for diplomacy. They elected a president who promised to make it happen. When Trump said he wanted a deal, Iranians believed him. When he said he'd avoid a new Middle East war, they cheered. Instead, Trump secretly sent Israel missiles. Israel says it attacked because Iran is building a nuclear bomb. But U.S. intelligence has repeatedly shown this is false. Ironically, it is Israel that has an estimated 90 undeclared nuclear bombs, hidden from international inspectors. And it is Israel that commits what law experts argue is genocide in Palestine and war crimes in Lebanon. The U.S. not only failed to stop Israel—it keeps sending billions in military aid. Iranians feel betrayed by Americans—and terrified by the reckless warmongering of our allies. If Trump is concerned about Iran getting a nuclear bomb, then he should study history: diplomacy works. War is not the answer. The JCPOA is proof that Iran will uphold its end of a deal. Now Americans must prove that we, too, believe in peace, not war. The U.S. needs to end the flow of arms and sanction Israel, stop the war, and return to negotiations. If we don't want another generation around the world to grow up hating America, we must embrace peace. Let's show Iranians that Americans can be trusted. Alex Shams is an anthropologist with a PhD from the University of Chicago whose work focuses on Middle East politics. He previously worked as a journalist based in the West Bank. The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
Spectator
18 hours ago
- Politics
- Spectator
Why Muslim-majority countries have turned against Iran
Swift condemnations have poured in from the Muslim world castigating Israel for bombing Iran. The UAE condemned Israel 'in the strongest terms', Jordan spoke up against Israeli attacks 'threatening regional stability', Saudi Arabia denounced 'blatant Israeli aggressions', Turkey espoused 'an end to Israel's banditry', while various Muslim diplomatic groups, including the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), demanded 'international action' against the Jewish State. But cloaked underneath this predictably farcical rhetoric of 'Muslim unity' are the evolving interests of many of these states, which today align seamlessly with Israel. Saudi Arabia has described 'evil' Iran as the 'head of the snake' In Israel's immediate neighbourhood, Lebanese officials are blocking the depleted Iranian jihadist proxy Hezbollah from taking action against Israel. Meanwhile, the Ahmed al-Sharaa-led Syria, after toppling the pro-Iran Bashar al-Assad regime, has been negotiating a peace deal to recognise Israel and allow Syrian territory to be used to block Iranian attacks. Jordan, meanwhile, is directly intercepting Iranian missiles. This is similar to its downing of drones last year, as part of a regional military coalition featuring Saudi Arabia and the UAE that provided key intelligence against Iran. Turkey, too, reportedly had prior knowledge of Israeli strikes on Iran. Sunni Gulf states have seen Shia Iran as an imperial threat in the region since clerics took over Tehran following the Iranian revolution in 1979. They accuse Iran of backing Shia uprisings against Sunni rulers in countries like Bahrain, along with pushing militia in Iraq and Yemen to aspire to propel Shia regimes. Of course, these Sunni states, led by Saudi Arabia, have long used jihadist proxies to exploit the same Sunni–Shia fault-lines and thwart Iranian plans in order to maintain their own regional hegemony. Riyadh went a step further by formulating a military alliance of Sunni states, the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition, aimed at Iran and its Shia allies. But while the Sunni–Shia sectarian divide within Islam is 14 centuries old, in recent years the antagonism has crossed the weapons-grade threshold following the advent of a very modern threat: the nuclear bomb. When Israel struck Iranian nuclear sites and eliminated scientists along with key generals, it also inadvertently did so on behalf of leading Sunni regimes that have long been petrified by the prospect of Iran building a nuclear weapon. Saudi Arabia, which has described 'evil' Iran as the 'head of the snake', has repeatedly condemned the US nuclear deal with Iran in 2015. It has also regularly urged other Muslim-majority countries to reject 'Iranian terrorism'. Only a couple of weeks ago, Saudi defence minister Prince Khalid bin Salman warned Iranian officials to accept US president Donald Trump's offer of a new nuclear agreement or face the Israeli strikes that followed a little over a fortnight later. A similar message was delivered by the UAE to Iran in March. The Gulf states normalising relations with Israel are doing so as part of their modernising bids. This entails shunning violent Islamic laws and codes, from which their erstwhile antisemitic rhetoric against the Jewish State originates. This move is critical in order to diversify their petro-economies, which require regional stability to attract global investment. While sanctions-hit Iran has even more to gain financially by embracing moderation and peace in the region, it does not have a monarchy that could simply flip the switch on decades of spreading radical Islam and jihadist militancy. Self-identifying as 'resistance' against the West and Israel and flying the 'flag of Islam against infidels' is a matter of survival for the clerics in Tehran, even as the writing is on the wall for Iran's rulers following the fall of their proxies in Syria and Lebanon. If the Iranian regime is to go, it should ideally be toppled by the Iranians, who have lived under its brutalities for almost half a century, with local protests and attacks against the clergy increasing in recent years. While there are fears among the Iranian populace that the war could cause destruction similar to that seen in Gaza, there are millions of Muslims across the region who have suffered at the hands of Iran and its militias, and who would celebrate the demise of Iranian clerical rule – even if it is Israel that is to deal the final blow. And the Gulf states, led by Saudi Arabia, have already laid the groundwork to pose as the saviours and custodians of these Muslims in the aftermath of Israeli strikes they are officially condemning. Saudi Arabia has conveniently distanced itself from what is, in effect, the execution of its plans against Iran by officially normalising relations with Tehran following a China-brokered deal in 2023, after seven years of severed ties. This has allowed Riyadh to publicly pose as a mediator in Iran's nuclear talks with the US, while it covertly delivers Israeli threats to Tehran and continues to inform Washington of its intention to acquire nuclear arms. Like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Turkey have their own plans to lead the Muslim world once the only non-Sunni claimant for the same – Iran – is effectively sidelined. All of these states, however, need Israel to eliminate the Iranian regime so as not to completely alienate Shia populations. Public hostility towards Israel will continue to grow in these countries as they quietly celebrate the gains of the Jewish state.
Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
'War could spark fresh UK terror attacks - there's no going back for Israel'
Regardless of who you believe about Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions the seal is now broken and there is no going back for Israel. It is fully committed and will have to press on with its strikes, hoping to lure America into the fight, with its superior bunker-busting bomb power. But the escalating Iran crisis has serious implications for Israel's western allies too and could boost the risk of terror attacks in countries like the UK. As America's junior partner and ally in the Middle East, Sunni Islamist jihadists and groups aligned with Shia Iran are a huge risk in Britain. British warplanes have in the past taken part in shooting down missiles sent to Israel by Tehran and that will not be forgotten by the Iranian regime. And as Shia Tehran has proved with its backing for Hamas in Gaza, a Sunni organisation, it is very capable of putting aside its religious differences to trigger violence. And Iran has even hosted al-Qaeda leaders in hiding including, it is believed, Osama's son Hamza, who Donald Trump announced had been killed in 2019. The Mirror revealed last year that in fact intelligence officers believe Hamza escaped that attempt to kill him and he now leads al-Qaeda, probably from Afghanistan. Hezbollah and its Iranian islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sponsors have contacts in the UK and these shadowy organisations could launch revenge attacks. The UK has long been regarded as a legitimate target for the region and as Iran begins to lose the conflict with Israel it will likely turn to other means. And they don't even have to radicalise anyone since the internet allows rogue states to seduce lone wolves and small criminal gangs into acting on their behalf for money. Rogue states and terror networks are known increasingly to be tapping into criminal networks across the UK. By putting distance between it, using a criminal gang or naive footsoldier, Iran could easily encourage the spilling of blood in the UK whilst remaining under the threshold for war. The attacker may not even know whom he or she was working for and who they have been speaking to on the internet. Every day and night our MI5 counter-terror officers operate, often in the shadows, trying to smash terror plots, forced to prioritise against an ever-more complex and increasing threat. We in the UK take for granted the relative daily peace we enjoy and yet the threat level for a terror attack in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland remains 'substantial.' This means MI5 believe an attack is 'likely,' so not only can the threat of a terror attack is not be discounted - it is probably going to happen. Targets could be Jewish sites, groups or religious centres in the UK or simply putting the general UK public in its crosshairs with deadly terror strikes. The ongoing fanatical Iranian revolution which started in 1979 has taken a serious toll in recent years - its Hezbollah and Hamas proxies brought to their knees by Israel. It has also lost its huge presence and influence across Syria after the toppling of dictator Bashar al-Assad but it does have a militia foothold in Iraq. For years Iran had steadily spread its influence across the Middle East, stretching across its 'Shia Crescent' from Tehran, through Iraq and Syria, Lebanon and all the way to Israel's doorstep. It has lost all of this in the space of just three years and now the regime is facing an uncertain future. Iran could turn on the west like a wounded animal, launching a wave of terrorism reaching all the way to UK streets. However this current crisis is resolved there will be an increased risk to civilians in Britain and perhaps abroad as Iran seeks revenge. And whilst Israel may have pushed back or destroyed Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions forever, the world may become a safer place. But not as safe as it was.
Memri
2 days ago
- Politics
- Memri
Baloch Support For Israel's Preemptive Strike Against The Ayatollah's Regime
On June 15, 2025, the secular Free Balochistan Movement (FBM), headed by the renowned Baloch leader Hyrbyair Marri, published a statement on Israel's preemptive strike against Iran. In the statement, the FBM stressed: "The way in which Israel is resisting the Iranian state's expansionism and terrorism is commendable. It is a clear fact that Israel is not an enemy of the Baloch nation. On the contrary, extremist, and fundamentalist states like Iran and Pakistan are common enemies of both Israel and the Baloch people." It then added: "The Baloch nation is fighting a battle for survival against these very states, and Israel's decisive military actions against the Iranian regime are not only encouraging but also represent a positive sign for the Baloch people, who have long suffered under Iranian colonialism."[1] Baloch activist holding the flags of Balochistan and of Israel Baloch Scholar Warns Against The Manipulation Of Public Sentiment Through Religious Rhetoric By The Ayatollah's Regime In addition, a prominent Sunni scholar in Iranian-occupied Balochistan, Maulana Abdul Ghaffar Naqshbandi, has strongly criticized attempts to portray the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel as war between Islam and unbelievers, calling such narratives misleading and dangerous.[2] In a public statement shared on the social media platform X, Maulana Naqshbandi declared that the Iran-Israel conflict has no connection to Islam, and warned religious scholars and the broader Sunni community against falling for sectarian propaganda. "Labelling this geopolitical conflict as a war between Islam and Kufr [unbelief] is a complete distortion of reality," he wrote. "This narrative misguides the masses and has no basis in Islamic teachings." The Baloch cleric, who is known for his vocal opposition to Tehran's sectarian policies and support for human rights in Balochistan, cautioned the Baloch people to be wary of efforts to manipulate public sentiment through religious rhetoric. Maulana Naqshbandi went on to criticize Iran's clerical regime, stating that it is now suffering the consequences of its own long-standing policies of fostering extremist groups. "The very forces the Iranian regime empowered for years are now contributing to regional instability and backfiring," he said. He then condemned the regime's use of sectarian emotions to divert attention from its failures.
DW
2 days ago
- Business
- DW
How the Iran-Israel conflict could destabilize Pakistan – DW – 06/18/2025
The Israel-Iran conflict could trigger new security and economic challenges for Pakistan, which is already grappling with militancy, separatism and economic instability. The escalating Israel-Iran conflict has far-reaching security, geopolitical and economic implications for Iran's southeastern neighbor, Pakistan. Iran shares a 909-kilometer (560-mile) border with Pakistan's restive Balochistan province, where officials announced on Monday that all formal border crossings with Iran had closed for an indefinite period amid intensifying strikes between Israel and Iran. The crossings at Taftan and Gabd-Rimdan in southwest Balochistan remain open for nationals seeking to return home. Hundreds of Pakistanis living in Iran arrived at the Taftan border crossing on Wednesday as they make their way back home to Pakistan. Pakistan's army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, is expected to meet US President Donald Trump later on Wednesday during his official visit to Washington. The meeting is deemed siginficant in the light of the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict. Pakistan's relationship with Iran The relationship between predominantly Sunni Pakistan and Shiite-majority Iran has been complex, with the cross-border region affected by attacks from Baloch separatists who are fighting a war of independence against the Pakistani state. The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) says Pakistan's central government is unfairly exploiting the region's natural resources. The BLA has for decades launched attacks against the government, armed forces and Chinese interests in the region. Pakistan: 'Security state' on the rise amid regional tension To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The Israel-Iran war marks a dangerous turning point not only for Middle East geopolitics, but for Pakistan, according to US-based Pakistan analyst Raza Rumi, who told DW that "the implications are [anything but] distant." "As a country with close ties to key Gulf allies and a complex relationship with Iran, Pakistan will be under pressure to maintain neutrality while safeguarding its strategic interests," Rumi added. As fighting between Israel and Iran entered its sixth day on Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that they were attacking Tehran, Iran's capital, fueling fears of an all-out war in the region. Increasing conflict and a potential collapse of Tehran could have serious security implications for Pakistan. Separatist attacks in Balochistan could impact Pakistan's border security and internal stability — challenging its already strained security apparatus. "There is the thorny issue of the Baloch region [in Iran] and a collapse in Tehran could trigger autonomy claims which will embolden the Baloch in Pakistan. Iran and Pakistan have been at loggerheads over this issue in the past," Ghaffar Hussain, a London-based security, expert told DW. For analyst Rumi, "Islamabad would have to bolster border surveillance and work carefully in balancing law enforcement with diplomatic sensitivity toward Tehran." "A war on the western border [with Iran] is problematic for Pakistan, especially its restive Balochistan province," said Muhammad Shoaib, an assistant professor at Quaid-i-Azam University. Shoaib added that any change to the status quo will be troublesome and a weakened regime would also "present a security challenge." German outcry over Merz's remark on Israel's 'dirty work' To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Economic impacts The escalating conflict between Israel and Iran has renewed focus on security in the Strait of Hormuz — a strategic waterway between Oman and Iran that connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. A wider conflict in the Middle East, especially around the Strait of Hormuz, could disrupt global oil supplies and drive prices higher, said Rumi. "Like the rest of the world, Pakistan would be severely impacted, and the war could risk major disruption of oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, which could lead to soaring global energy prices," said Rumi, who noted that Pakistan is already grappling with inflation, currency depreciation and energy shortages. As a result of the war, rising fuel costs could disrupt markets and key sectors, such as electricity generation, transportation and agriculture, deepening the fiscal crisis and putting further strain on vulnerable households. "Whether or not Iran has the ability to block the strait of Hormuz remains to be seen … but this would embroil the entire region including GCC nations," asserted Hussain. Shoaib, however, feels that the "Iranian conflict, in particular, will impact Balochistan province where a significant chunk of population is [engaged in] informal trade of oil and other commodities." Sectarian tensions According to Rumi, Pakistan — a predominantly Sunni Muslim country where Shiite Muslims make up about 15% of the population — could face a potential spillover of sectarian tensions and the country may see renewed propaganda, targeted violence, and proxy activities. "If the war narrative is infused with religious symbolism and sectarian rhetoric, it could be dangerous," Rumi said. Quadriga - Iran Nuclear Deal: Forever Delayed? To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Edited by: Keith Walker
