{"id":2667,"date":"2025-06-24T01:05:46","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T01:05:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iranians.global\/news\/?p=2667"},"modified":"2025-06-24T01:09:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T01:09:10","slug":"us-joins-israel-in-attack-on-iran-and-ushers-in-a-new-era-of-impunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iranians.global\/news\/us-joins-israel-in-attack-on-iran-and-ushers-in-a-new-era-of-impunity\/","title":{"rendered":"US joins Israel in attack on Iran and ushers in a new era of impunity"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Simon Mabon, Professor of International Relations, Lancaster University<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

When US B-2 bombers hit Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities<\/a> at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan, Donald Trump declared the strikes a success and urged the Islamic Republic to make peace or face even more devastating strikes. The US president proclaimed the might of the US military, operating in full coordination with Israel, before taking to truth social.Trump and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, will hope that the strikes will end Iran\u2019s nuclear programme once and for all. It may, it may not. More certain is that the operation will sound the death knell for the post-second world war global order.<\/p>\n

After the horrors of the that war and the cold war that followed, a global order emerged seemingly predicated on a set of largely liberal rules and norms that sought to prevent a retreat into global conflict. Predicated on non-intervention, diplomacy and a respect for the rule of law, this global order was idealistic and \u2013 ultimately \u2013 aspirational.<\/p>\n

But in recent years, this vision of global politics has come crashing down. Now America joining Israel in its attacks on Iran will rightly provoke serious questions about the future of global order and what comes next.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

Trump\u2019s decision to use US air power to land heavy blows against Iran\u2019s nuclear programme is the latest event on a continuum which arguably reaches back to the Hamas terror attack of October 7.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s destruction of Gaza, its decapitation of Hamas and disabling of Hezbollah\u2019s military capacity and its strikes against the Houthi rebels have consolidated Israel\u2019s position of strength<\/a> in the region, to generally positive acclaim from global audiences. Yet the spectre of Iran continued to loom large, even as its proxies were defeated<\/p>\n

Iran has long been framed as an nefarious puppet master<\/a> controlling a complex web of \u201cproxy actors\u201d across the Middle East each accused of doing the bidding of Tehran. The reality is rather different. While the Islamic Republic undeniably wields influence over such groups, it is not the perfidious mastermind that some would suggest, nor is it the source of all ills in the region.<\/p>\n

Instead, Iran is in a perilous position. The Islamic Republic faces serious social and economic pressures<\/a>, with the \u201cwomen life freedom movement\u201d galvanising popular opposition, while unrest across Iran\u2019s peripheral provinces which are home to ethnic and religious minorities continues to ferment.<\/p>\n

In recent years, diplomacy has shown it can work, ameliorating longstanding and deep-seated animosities. This was bearing fruits as seen in the gradual rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia from 2023<\/a>, which had been preceded by the signing of the Abraham accords<\/a> in 2020.<\/p>\n

Seen by many as a key achievement of Trump\u2019s first presidency, this was a series of agreements between Israel and Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Sudan in which the Arab countries recognised Israel and all sides signed a declaration of principles focused on mutual understanding, respect for human dignity, and cooperation.<\/p>\n

While many in Israel and the US hoped that Saudi Arabia would officially recognise Israel<\/a>, the events of October 7 and the destruction of Gaza that followed ended those hopes. Now the possibility of all-out conflict between Iran and Israel and the US risks blowing a major regional conflict with global implications.<\/p>\n

Serious questions must be asked as to the longer-term strategy here. While Israeli officials have articulated a need for strikes on Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities to prevent the Islamic Republic from getting a nuclear weapons capability, Iran is a signatory of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty<\/a> (although it has threatened recently to quit<\/a>) and key officials have regularly declared that nuclear weapons have no place in Iran\u2019s strategic portfolio.<\/p>\n

Israel is not a signatory<\/a> to the treaty. In fact, it is thought to possess between 75 and 400 nuclear warheads. It\u2019s hard to tell, as the country has maintained a steadfast policy of nuclear opacity<\/a>, never actually admitting the extent of its nuclear capability.<\/p>\n

New impunity?<\/h2>\n

Is this the start of a new order of impunity across the region, backed by western powers? And if so, what does this mean for the war in Ukraine and the potential for an aggressive Russia engaging in further dangerous adventurism? What does it mean for the possibility of China taking advantage in this breakdown to perhaps fulfil its generations-old ambition to unite with Taiwan, by force, if necessary? Are we seeing the shift to a world in which Donald Trump\u2019s threats to annex Greenland \u2013 even perhaps Canada \u2013 must be taken seriously?<\/p>\n

The contours of global politics are changing before our eyes. Gone are the norms that have served as the bedrock of the so-called liberal international order. The risk is that while this period has itself featured tragedy and suffering on an almost unimaginable scale, tearing up the rule book will be far worse.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This article written by Simon Mabon, Professor of International Relations, Lancaster University<\/strong> and is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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