This time last week we woke up to the news of the assassination of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, by the US and its proxy, Israel. Or is it the other way round?
According to US President Donald Trump and his administration, they attacked Iran either because that country, which was in negotiations with them, was about to attack US interests, or they went in after Israel unilaterally started the attack and they didn’t want to be left behind.
Oman, which facilitated the US-Iran talks, has said extensive progress had been made around Iran’s nuclear programme.
Iran recently went through a debilitating wave of protests centred on the economic hardships experienced by Iranians, problems emanating from sanctions imposed by the US. It was in Iran’s interest that the talks were concluded positively, as their major demand was the lifting of sanctions and the return of frozen assets. This would boost its economy. It is therefore illogical that Iran would sit in those talks while planning to attack the US. For what benefit?
The seemingly contradictory reasons given by various leaders of the US about why they joined the Israeli attack may actually be true. Israel has wanted regime change in Iran since the fall of the Shah in 1979 and the establishment of the Islamic state by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
It was in Iran’s interest that the talks were concluded positively, as their major demand was the lifting of sanctions and the return of frozen assets.
The US too has been smarting over its loss of control of the Iranian oil fields. The allegation about nuclear weapons is as untrue as the lie used to launch the war against Iraq during the time of Saddam Hussein.
Were the Iranians to have had nuclear-ready uranium or actual weapons, the bombings in June last year would never have happened. Why do you think North Korea is able to test long-range missiles that can even reach the US but is never attacked? They know that Kim Jong Un has the nuclear button and can use it.
So why did the US attack Iran and kill its leader while negotiations were still ongoing in Geneva?
Iran has been selling most of its oil to China, and the sales have not been in US dollars, as the US insists all oil transactions should be. The use of the US dollar in international trade is the foundation on which its continued worldwide economic dominance is predicated.
But even more critically, its domestic economic well-being rests on the illusory strength of the dollar internationally. The US is the one country that can just print dollars and send them into the world for use in international trade. In fact, more US dollars are outside the country than those used internally.
China’s ability to buy oil from Iran and Venezuela using its own currency threatened the dominance of the dollar and the survival of the US itself
China’s ability to buy oil from Iran and Venezuela using its own currency threatened the dominance of the dollar and the survival of the US itself. So Venezuela had to be decapitated, and its oil brought under the control of the US. Now whoever wants Venezuelan oil has to use the US dollar.
Iran therefore also has to fall to stem the tide of the de-dollarisation movement gaining ground in the world. And it has a double whammy impact: strengthening the dollar while weakening the US’s most prominent global competitor, China.
China was hit with astronomical tariffs last year but retaliated with counter-tariffs and went toe-to-toe with Trump. He had to blink. Iran, too, has been hitting back, and body bags are beginning to arrive in the US.
Caught in-between are Iranians whose country is being bombed to the ground, as in Gaza and Lebanon, where soon we shall hear of the need to build a Gulf Riviera. Maybe the so-called Board of Peace will have its mandate extended to include the rebuilding of Tehran by American and Israeli companies. It’s about money, stupid!
Also caught in the middle are the Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain, which have allowed US military bases in their territories, bases that house part of the arsenal trained on Iran.
When US bombs hit a school in Iran, killing young girls, there is not a whimper of “indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets”. When Iran retaliates and hits Dubai airport, there is a hoo-ha about non-military assets being hit.
Iran is supposed to abide by the rules of war in responding to a war it did not start, a war that does not observe any rules. The hypocrisy is sickening.
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