US Airstrike on Iran: Follow up to Iraq, Libya follies?

US President Donald Trump

The latest U.S.-led airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities—executed in coordination with Israel—mark a chilling new chapter in the erosion of international law and the normalization of unilateral militarism. That this act comes from the very administration now attempting to revive the Iran nuclear deal, which was recklessly dismantled in 2018 by then-President Donald Trump, is not just ironic—it is a damning indictment of strategic inconsistency and moral duplicity.

The justification for this aggression rests on the same shaky foundation that has underpinned past misadventures: vague threats, unverified intelligence, and the invocation of “existential danger.” But history is not so easily erased. The world remembers the fabricated claims of weapons of mass destruction that led to the invasion of Iraq—claims that were never substantiated, yet left a nation in ruins. We remember the Western-backed toppling of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, a move that plunged a once-unified country into over a decade of chaos, fragmentation, and foreign interference2.

Now, Iran—a 4,000-year-old civilization with a legacy of resilience—is the latest target. Despite relentless pressure, it has not enlisted its allies in retaliation. Instead, it has stood alone, absorbing the blows of a coordinated assault while maintaining a posture of defiance that its adversaries never anticipated.

What makes this moment even more dangerous is the deafening silence of the United States on the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza. Human rights organizations and numerous state actors have condemned these violations, yet Washington continues to shield Israel under the guise of security—a security that would be better served through genuine partnership with Arab states in a shared pursuit of peace and prosperity5.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent declaration that Pakistan may be the next target raises deeply troubling questions. Was Pakistan’s Army Chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, offered quiet assurances during his unprecedented reception at the White House? Was his silence on the Iran strike the price of a promise to deter Israeli aggression?

This is not diplomacy—it is coercion cloaked in the language of deterrence. It is the behavior of a superpower that has abandoned the very principles it once championed. The international community, including China and many Arab nations, has rightly condemned this reckless militarism. But condemnation alone is not enough.

The world stands at a precipice. The rules-based order is being rewritten by bunker-busting bombs and backroom bargains. The ghosts of Iraq and Libya haunt us still, and now Iran’s fate hangs in the balance. If this escalation continues unchecked, we may find ourselves sleepwalking into a conflict of global proportions—one that no nation, no matter how powerful, can control once unleashed.

It is time for good sense to prevail, for diplomacy to rise above destruction and for the conscience of the world to speak louder than the cannons of war. 

– GreenWatch Dhaka