Versailles once again?
- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
Every major country in the world, except the US and India, had called out its genocidal war against innocent men, women and children in Gaza, and, of late, in Lebanon. Most Israeli leaders have been declared out of bounds even in the European countries, the closest allies of the US.
By Nalini Ranjan Mohanty in Delhi
The initial peace deal between Iran and USA has come into effect, with the digital signing of the Memorandum of Understanding by the presidents of both the countries two days ago in Versailles, France. The details of the agreement will be hammered out in the next 60 days.
This brings the curtain down on the almost four-month-long illegal war that both US and Israel waged on Iran on February 28 this year.
How does the denouement look like?
(a) Each party will try to sugarcoat its win-win narrative but the truth is: (a) the US, the military and economic superpower, had to swallow the bitter pill of being humiliated by a middling military power like Iran, that too, a country which has been ravaged by decades-long economic sanctions imposed by the US and the rich Western world.
(b) Israel stands isolated by every other country in the world (including the US) with the exception of India whose leader Narendra Modi considers Israel as his fatherland.
(c) Iran stands tall, with the Western powers being forced to revoke the sanctions imposed by them since 1980s and, the peace deal further proposing that Iran would receive $ 300 billion as economic reparations for the war. Iran’s financial assets to the tune of $ 24 billion frozen by the US banks would also be released; it seems the war came as a blessing in disguise for Iran.
(d) countries like India which tried to suck up to the US-Israel axis stand exposed; Pakistan has marched a steal over India by having a prominent seat at the diplomatic table that gave shape to the crucial deal.
The US had invaded Iran with the hope of a swift Venezuela-like operation: the change of the regime overnight. Soon after bombing the premises of the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, killing him as well as scores of senior officials of his administration, President Trump went on air to announce that the fall of the authoritarian regime was imminent. Either it will collapse because of internal contradictions or the ‘oppressed people’ of Iran will give the decisive blow to the headless set up to liberate the country from the theocratic stranglehold.
But neither happened; rather, tens of thousands of people poured onto the streets to mourn the death of the Supreme Leader. There was no chaos at the top; orderly succession was carried out at the highest level.
Contrary to the American hope, the power rivalry between the Revolutionary Guards and elected representatives didn’t spill onto the streets in the form of bloodbath. Iran took on the challenge to counter the mightiest military power of the world, unitedly and purposefully.
Trump and his advisors had thought that by destroying most of the Iranian Air Force and Naval Force by concerted aerial attack, they had defanged the Iranian military; it had no other option but to surrender. But Iran showed to the world that it had meticulously prepared for this eventuality.
Its underground ballistic missiles were beyond the reach of the American killer jets. Iran unleashed those missiles at the American bases spread all over the Gulf causing mayhem. The Gulf nations, which had welcomed the American bases in their countries as their ultimate security cover had to face the brunt of the Iranian attack.
It was not all. Iran decided to weaponise the Strait of Hormuz which falls within its territorial waters and which provides the only passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean. Never in the past, the Strait of Hormuz had been closed by Iran even during Middle East conflicts. But this time Iran successfully choked this narrow point and brought the critical energy supply to a stand still, despite repeated threats by Trump to 'bomb Iran into the Stone Age’ if it did not allow ships free passage.
The Trump regime threatened for a while to put boots on the ground to take over the critical Iranian installations in order to choke its economy. But it chickened out when Iranian Revolutionary Guards promised to send thousands of body bags of American soldiers to their respective homes.
It was utter humiliation for America that President Trump kept issuing threats and each threat turned out to be hollow. The Trump regime was also diplomatically isolated. None of the European countries, fellow travellers of NATO, were ready to join forces with the US to take Strait of Hormuz out of Iranian control!
Imagine the humiliation with the mightiest military power in the world seeking support of the allies to take on a middle power like Iran, but being spurned by one and all!
By standing up to America and forcing its retreat, Iran showed to the world it cannot be trifled with by any country! It’s today possibly the only country in the world which can confront America eye to eye; it’s the only country in the world which does not feel the need to suck up to a megalomaniac like Trump, when every other leader, European, Latin American, Asian or African, has tried to humour the US president.
That makes Iran and outlier in a service world!
This fortitude of the Iranian leadership has stood it in good stead. That America has been forced to release the frozen Iranian assets and to arrange for a reparation fund to the tune of $ 300 billion tell us which country ultimately emerged victorious in the war.
The US victory narrative is confined to two postulates: first, Iran has been forced to accept that it will not build nuclear weapons and second, that Iran will allow open access through the Strait of Hormuz. This is mere consolation for the US, but no concession from Iran.
Iran’s deceased Supreme Leader had made an open pledge that his country would not go for nuclear weapons. As regards Strait of Hormuz, it was open before the US invaded Iran and it would again be open after the war ended. Clearly, the Trump regime has been shown the limits of its power and it’s catching at the straw to salvage its reputation!
Israel is perhaps the worst casualty of this war.
Every major country in the world, except the US and India, had called out its genocidal war against innocent men, women and children in Gaza, and, of late, in Lebanon. Most Israeli leaders have been declared out of bounds even in the European countries, the closest allies of the US.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been designated as a war criminal by the International Court of Justice. Israel had survived international opprobrium only because of the unreserved support of the USA, irrespective of whether Democrats or Republicans were in power.
It was a pointer to the tragic reality of American politics that even Kamala Harris, a Democratic Vice President and presidential nominee — who is of a mixed origin, an Indian mother and an African father — didn’t dare to utter a single word against Israel even as the Zionist regime was mercilessly assassinating civilians, doctors, UN workers and journalists, who seemed to be taking up the cause of the beleaguered Palestinians.
But things are changing. The fact that Zohran Mamdani won the Mayor election in New York, a city with a large presence of Jews, despite openly calling out the genocidal regime of Israel tells us a different story. That many Jews do not support the Zionist killer mission was borne out by the fact that thousands of Jewish youth worked as the volunteers of Mamdani during his electoral campaign.
Perhaps the biggest blowback to Israel came yesterday from J D Vance, the current US Vice President, who minced no words while reacting to the open rejection of the US-Iran peace deal by the Israeli leadership. Vance asserted that these Israeli leaders must not forget that the US President was the only leader of the world openly sympathetic to the cause of Israel. If Israelis choose to leave that crutch, they would fall and die!
He emphatically made another point, which has been repeatedly made by celebrated Right-wing American journalists like Tucker Carlson, that American taxpayer pays for more than two-thirds of Israeli military expenditure and that American withdrawal would make Israel the sitting duck of the Middle East!
Nothing could be a greater humiliation for a country that seemed to believe that no country or leader could jeopardise its mission of a Greater Israel! Netanyahu, who wished to go down in Israeli history as the greatest benefactor of the Zionist cause, may well turn out to be the leader who brought upon his country utter shame and humiliation!
As Israel stands exposed, Modi’s India appears humbled. Modi, by openly declaring Israel as his fatherland, had made India a party to the Israeli-American axis. Just as Israeli and American relations unravels, Modi stands desperately catching onto the apron strings of Netanyahu! A humiliating spectacle indeed!
The Modi-Jaishankar duo leave no stone unturned to belittle Pakistan as a basket case. But the same Pakistan had the pride of being accepted as a mediator by both Iran and the US. When the first round of negotiations failed, our leaders, and our lapdog media, relished that the Pakistani mediation was a non-starter. But that derisory laugh was short-lived.
It’s a matter of some joy for Pakistan that Iranian and US presidents signed a document two days ago that bears the name Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding.
Our leaders should hang their heads in shame for being bystanders in the entire process!
NR Mohanty is former Resident Editor, The Times of India and Hindustan Times (Patna Edition), and a seasoned journalist, commentator and academician. He was former Director, Jagran Institute of Management and Mass Communication (JIMMC), NOIDA.