Israel-Iran War: Rooted in Broken Promise, Selective Outrage

Mostafa Kamal Majumder

Mostafa Kamal Majumder

As missiles rain across the Middle East and the specter of a broader regional war looms, the world must confront an uncomfortable truth: the Israel-Iran conflict now engulfing the region is not merely the product of recent provocations, but the culmination of years of diplomatic sabotage, strategic miscalculations, and moral double standards.

President Donald Trump has claimed that Israel’s preemptive airstrikes were justified by Iran’s failure to sign a nuclear deal within a 60-day deadline he had set. Yet this narrative omits a crucial fact: it was Trump himself who, during his previous term, in 2018 unilaterally withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—a multilateral agreement painstakingly negotiated in 2015 by the U.S., EU, and other global powers to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions. That deal was working. Its collapse, driven by political posturing rather than strategic necessity, reopened the very nuclear question that now serves as the pretext for war.

Missile fired from an undisclosed location

Even more troubling is the recent revelation from U.S. intelligence agencies that Iran had not started nuclear weapons development and that its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei had issued no directive to do so. If this is true—and there is no credible evidence to the contrary—then the justification for Israel’s strikes on Iranian soil, including the assassination of its military leaders including two generals at its consulate in Damascus, becomes deeply suspect.

What must not be overlooked is Israel’s overwhelming military dominance in the region, underwritten by decades of U.S. support. With American aid since its founding and access to some of the most advanced weaponry on the planet—including F-35 fighter jets, missile defense systems like Iron Dome, and a suspected nuclear arsenal—Israel wields unmatched firepower in the Middle East. This power is now being exercised at will, ostensibly in response to its claim of existential threats that neither the Gaza War nor the Iran conflict substantiate.

To frame this war as a righteous campaign against a rogue state is to ignore the broader context of occupation, displacement, and impunity. Iran’s Islamic regime is often criticized for its authoritarianism and regional meddling. But what of Israel, whose actions in Gaza and the West Bank have drawn accusations of war crimes from human rights organizations across the globe? The current war cannot be allowed to obscure the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, where entire neighborhoods have been flattened, and civilian casualties have reached staggering levels.

This is not a call to excuse Iran’s actions, nor to romanticize its regime. It is a call for consistency, for accountability, and above all, for responsible global stewardship. The international community—particularly the major powers that have long shaped the region’s fate—must act decisively to halt this war before it spirals beyond control.

The Middle East crisis is no longer lingering—it is dangerously escalating. What began as a confrontation between two adversaries now threatens to engulf neighboring states, destabilize fragile governments, and ignite sectarian fault lines across the region. The unchecked escalation between Israel and Iran is not just a regional crisis; it is a test of the global order’s capacity to prevent catastrophe.

The United Nations, sidelined and weakened, must be reinvigorated. The United States, China, Russia, and the European Union must recognize that their silence or selective outrage only emboldens impunity. They must use their influence not to pick sides, but to impose restraint, uphold international law, and restore the primacy of diplomacy.

To allow this conflict to rage on is to gamble with the future of the Middle East—and with it, the credibility of the global system meant to safeguard peace.