They just want it dead.
Neither country has a plan or an expectation of what comes next. This is hardly surprising.
For decades, the United States and Israel have clamoured for Iran’s destruction and have never given a second thought to what, if anything, might follow.
What has been truly disappointing are the deferential responses from Western allies.
Benjamin Netanyahu has been obsessed with Iran since the 1980s, and wants to defeat Iran, whatever that means, to win the next Israeli election.
Donald Trump is desperately trying to save his presidency from drowning in a sea of economic crises and scandals involving the late paedophile, Jeffrey Epstein.
The US president is also a vain and easily led man who relishes deploying America’s overwhelming military force around the world.
Beyond their current leaders, both Israel and the United States have long identified Iran as their main nemesis in the Middle East.
Considering their complete indifference to international law, it is hardly surprising that Washington and Jerusalem would launch an illegal attack.
It is unfortunate, but equally unsurprising, that this action would be supported not only by Netanyahu’s coalition partners in Israel but also by the opposition.
Bibi’s main rival in the upcoming Israeli poll, former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, wasted no time in voicing his support for an attack on Iran:
“I stand in full support of the IDF, the Israeli government, and the Prime Minister for Operation ‘Lion’s Roar.’ The entire nation of Israel stands behind you until the destruction of the Iranian threat,” Bennett wrote on Twitter.
Nor is it surprising that leading Democrats would quietly work to blunt congressional criticism over Trump’s blatant violation of the Constitution, which grants Congress the sole authority to initiate wars on behalf of the United States.
But where are the voices taking a stand against this violation of every conceivable international legal norm?
The statements heard from European leaders do not match the moment.
Even the Secretary-General of the United Nations issued a milquetoast statement that elided the fact that Washington and Jerusalem launched an unprovoked attack.
“I condemn today’s military escalation in the Middle East. The use of force by the United States and Israel against Iran, and the subsequent retaliation by Iran across the region, undermine international peace and security,” Antonio Guterres said.
While Iran may deserve strong criticism for its decision to attack neighbouring Gulf Arab states, it also targeted American bases.
Tehran also attacked civilian sites in those countries, including residential buildings and hotels. The latter is indefensible, especially if intentional.
But this pales before the slaughter unleashed by Trump and Netanyahu.
The assault targeted many civilian sites, including a girls’ elementary school on the first day of bombing, which killed almost 150 people.
Even the attacks on military sites in Iran were unprovoked and therefore illegal.
This distinction is of the utmost importance to Guterres, as it is the most basic principle of international law. But he didn’t even bother to mention it.
Yet the UN Secretary-General’s statement was among the better ones.
The E3 triumvirate of Emmanuel Macron, Friedrich Merz and Keir Starmer unreservedly supported the illegal act by the US and Israel.
“We did not participate in these strikes, but are in close contact with our international partners, including the United States, Israel, and partners in the region,” they wrote.
The statement buys into all the propaganda the White House and Bibi have been selling in recent months.
The E3 tellingly add that they have called to “end Iran’s nuclear program, curb its ballistic missile program, refrain from its destabilising activity in the region and our homelands…”
Iran hasn’t had a nuclear weapons program since at least 2003.
This is a repeatedly confirmed finding, including, most recently, by Trump’s national intelligence agencies.
As a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (which, for example, Israel is not), Iran is entitled to civilian use of nuclear energy.
Tehran’s ballistic missile arsenal and support for regional allies are the only things that have prevented its two nuclear-armed antagonists from attacking it. Until now.
The E3 is well aware of that, which is why Iran refused to discuss it.
Britain, France and Germany condemned Iran’s attacks on its neighbours but said nothing about the far more severe breach of international law committed by the United States and Israel when they attacked without provocation, which precipitated Iran’s retaliation.
And if that wasn’t problematic enough, the European Council issued a shocking statement of its own.
The text makes no mention of Jerusalem and Washington, and gives no hint that this was an illegal and destabilising attack on a sovereign country.
Instead, it reinforces the lie about a nuclear threat from Iran. To the extent there is criticism of anyone’s actions, it’s confined to Tehran.
“The European Union has adopted extensive sanctions in response to the actions of Iran’s murderous regime and the Revolutionary Guards and has consistently promoted diplomatic efforts aimed at addressing the nuclear and ballistic programmes through a negotiated solution.”
In a final absurdity, the Council statement, which tramples the most basic principles of international law, calls on all parties to “fully respect international law”.
It is an example of a world where facts are thoroughly inverted.
Perhaps the biggest disappointment was Canada’s Mark Carney. The premier’s recent speech at the World Economic Forum was widely hailed for challenging US hegemony.
But, given the opportunity to back his words with, if not action, at least a stance against American impunity, Carney proved himself a willing lapdog for Trump.
“Canada’s position remains clear,” he wrote. “The Islamic Republic of Iran is the principal source of instability and terror throughout the Middle East, has one of the world’s worst human rights records, and must never be allowed to obtain or develop nuclear weapons.”
None of that’s true. Israel, not Iran, is the country that has attacked its neighbours for years, often without provocation. Iran’s human rights record is appalling, but many states—again including Israel—have records that are as bad or worse.
And, once more for those who still don’t get it, there was absolutely no threat of Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Indeed, the fact that Iran’s nuclear programme was not being thoroughly monitored was entirely due to the United States arbitrarily abrogating the Iran nuclear deal, a deal that Tehran was adhering to, according to Trump’s own Secretary of Defence at that time.
There is more to the European and Canadian statements than mere kowtowing to American desires, though.
Despite all the talk of international law, the pining for the now-lost “rules-based order”, and regional stability, these leaders are delighted that the United States and Israel are doing the dirty work for them.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, like Hamas before it, is an entity that almost every country in the West wants to be rid of, and they don’t care how many innocent brown people have to die for that to happen.
It’s a self-defeating attitude. London, Ottawa, Paris and Berlin don’t want to live in a lawless world where the White House and Benjamin Netanyahu make the rules.
But they’re entirely comfortable with a double standard that allows such behaviour when it’s convenient to do so.
Don’t mention Greenland, or Canada, of course, when Trump demands their handover.
That’s not to say that the Islamic Republic is not a brutal authoritarian regime that we have just witnessed carry out horrifying atrocities against its own people.
It is. But it isn’t an excuse for decapitating its government and handing it over to another would-be dictator.
However, Western governments are more concerned with a Middle East that fully complies with their energy needs.
It’s a futile strategy. Sowing chaos, as we’ve seen in Libya, Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan, does not lead to stable partnerships but to violence and insecurity for all.
The United States and Israel are charging blindly into replicating that in Iran. Canada, the European Union and the United Kingdom should know better.
Photograph courtesy of US Air Force. Published under a Creative Commons license.
