Ch’ng Chin Yeow
The US and Israel’s attack on Iran came amid US nuclear negotiations with Iran brokered by Oman.
On the day of the attack, Oman’s Foreign Minister told CBS News that a major breakthrough had been reached, with Iran agreeing never to stockpile enriched uranium – precisely what the US and Israel had demanded.
Within hours of that announcement, the bombing began, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and around 40 other senior Iranian leaders at the building housing the Ayatollah’s office.
It was in his first term that US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from Iran’s nuclear deal – the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action signed under President Barack Obama – reimposing sanctions on Iran. The JCPOA had placed significant restrictions on Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.
So close to a deal…
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It is deeply unconscionable that the US and Israel chose to kill Khamenei and Iran’s top leaders when the negotiations were still underway and nearing the finishing line – with Iran willing to concede exactly what had been demanded of it.
The attacks came as Iranian leaders were meeting at the Ayatollah’s office rather than sheltering in bunkers – lured, it would seem, into a false sense of security that war had been averted.
A pretext for war?
Negotiating with the US, it turns out, cannot be taken in good faith. In this case, it appears that the US was merely using the negotiations as cover to buy time to move its military assets to the region in preparation for an attack on Iran.
With or without a nuclear agreement, the US and Israel had apparently already decided to attack Iran.
New colonialism, old playbook
The message the US is sending to the Global South is that it is not to be trusted.
To Washington, peace can only be achieved through military and economic power – through missiles, tariffs and sanctions – not by building relationships and trust.
For the US, peace means the world prostrating itself and submitting to its demands. It is the colonialism of old, camouflaged and rebranded.
Ch’ng Chin Yeow, based in Penang, is interested in many areas, including history, mineralogy and human behaviour.
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