The relevance of G7 and BRICS figures among the casualties list, but not Iranian nuclear capability; how should India react in this situation?
The casualties of the American bombing of Iranian nuclear sites are many, and it is not yet certain that Iran’s nuclear capability is one of them.
To make sure that the enrichment facility deep inside a mountain at Fordow has, indeed, been destroyed, and to find out the fate of the 408-kg stockpile of uranium enriched to 60 per cent purity (bombs call for 90 per cent purity) that Iran has already built up, the US or Israel will need to put boots on the ground.
Sending soldiers into a war means sending body bags back home. That is extremely unpopular with Americans, especially Trump’s Make-America-Great-Again support base. It is far from obvious that Israel would like to send its troops into battle so far away from home, either.
Imperialism is back
A surefire casualty is the notion that imperialism, with its heavy-handed use of force to advance the interests of the powerful, has given way to the bonhomie of shared prosperity in a framework of globalisation. Trump’s unilateral destruction of the rules-based trading system, and designs on Greenland and Panama, had already given fair warning of the resurrection of old-fashioned imperialism.
Now it is back, guns blazing.
The popularity of governments in the Middle East is another casualty. Not one of them is a democracy. But these regimes have secured the acquiescence of their populations with oil money, and have felt free to pursue foreign policies at odds with the sentiments of the domestic population.
Also read: Trump’s attack on Iran, a ‘spectacular’ failure of US foreign policy
Palestinians themselves are not very popular among the Arabs, true, but the state of Israel, which came into being in 1948 as an occupying force, is even less popular. When Israel prosecutes systematic genocide of the Palestinians, ordinary Arabs are not amused, and actively resent their governments’ failure to put up even token resistance to the state-sponsored crime against fellow Arabs in Gaza.
Everyone knows that Israel functions as the US proxy in the region. Yet, the US is not Israel, and Arab states could manoeuvre themselves into the thin space between the two to make nice with the US, even as Israel continued its slaughter of Gazans. But when the US joins hands with Israel to bomb the sole source of resistance in the region to Israel’s total domination, the space separating Israel and the US shrinks, and the Arab states who find themselves caught there begin to feel the squeeze.
Lumping it with grace
Collegial decision-making is yet another casualty, particularly among nations. The G7 has received a hard kick in its padded behind.
Trump left the G7 summit in Canada before it concluded, and took the decision to bomb Iran without consulting his supposed allies in the grouping. The non-US members of the G7 resemble the French nobility after the Revolution—those who had managed to retain their heads had little to show apart from their titles. The US alone calls the shots in the western alliance, and the others must learn the delicate art of lumping it with grace.
Iran does not need uranium refined to 60 per cent purity to make fuel for a nuclear power reactor. So that means that Iran is, indeed, bent on making a bomb, does it not? It does not.
The BRICS grouping has been another casualty. It decided to admit Iran into the club in 2023, and Iran has been a member since January 1, 2024. This grouping of emerging powers seeks to provide an alternative to the US-led world order, but has been experiencing problems that could have been described as teething troubles, if only it had developed any teeth.
It is unlikely that BRICS would even find the wherewithal to make a statement of protest that all members can sign on to.
Also read: Iran's foreign ministry says US itself launched dangerous war against Iran
In India's interest
Iran’s is a theocratic, repressive regime deeply unpopular with its own people. Why should the rest of the world care, if Iran is bombed to its knees? Consider India during the Emergency.
Would India’s Opposition of the time have welcomed an American attack on India as a means of delivering India out of authoritarian rule? Loss of a government’s accountability to the people is more easily remedied through internal political processes than loss of sovereignty to an external power.
Under its current political leadership, New Delhi might not find the fortitude to take a clear stand against the bombing of Iran by the US and its proxy in the Middle East. It feels too beholden to the US and to Israel as suppliers of critical defence capability in the face of threats from Pakistan and China. This would be unfortunate.
India’s interest lies in opposing the bombing of Iran, demanding an immediate end to the ongoing genocide in Gaza and finding political solutions to the tensions that ravage the Middle East
The support India receives is not charity, but because of India’s utility based on India’s own strengths. India must not give up its claim to champion the Global South by keeping mum in the face of rampaging imperialism.
Also read: Nations call for diplomacy after US strikes on Iran
Iran’s nuclear activities have been under continuous monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency, and it has not lent any support to the Israeli claim that Iran is on the threshold of nuclear breakout. US intelligence has not found evidence for such a conclusion either, as Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s own intelligence chief, attested recently.
Iran does not need uranium refined to 60 per cent purity to make fuel for a nuclear power reactor. So that means that Iran is, indeed, bent on making a bomb, does it not? It does not. Continuing to refine uranium is the only leverage Iran has, to demand that the economic sanctions that have crippled its economy for decades be removed.
India’s interest lies in opposing the bombing of Iran, demanding an immediate end to the ongoing genocide in Gaza and finding political solutions to the tensions that ravage the Middle East.
That would mean materialising the two-nation solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, and support for the advance of democracy in the region, in general.
(The Federal seeks to present views and opinions from all sides of the spectrum. The information, ideas or opinions in the articles are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Federal)
