The country that can do anything
Israel is plunging into a war with Iran under flimsy pretexts, and its
Western allies are guilty of complicity.
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms Iran’s indiscriminate
attack on Israeli territory.” This was the statement made by Foreign
Minister Johann Wadephul a few hours after Israel launched its
large-scale air offensive against Iran. The absurdity of such a
distortion seems obvious, but it does not seem to register with the
leaders of Western countries, who continue to affirm their support for
Israel, thereby making it clear that The government of this country
can get away with practically anything. The official reason for the
attack is Iran’s nuclear program, which raises the question of whether
Israel is not sitting in a glass house. In the end, as always, it is
the populations of both sides of the conflict who suffer.
by Wolf Wetzel
[This article posted on 6/17/2025 is translated from the German on the
Internet, https://www.manova.news/artikel/das-land-das-alles-darf.]
In November 2024, I wrote this article:
We have earned World War III
“Nothing is more thoroughly prepared than wars that break out
suddenly” (author unknown).
“We can watch, participate, or desert” (author known to me).
By “we,” I did not mean all those who have no say in matters of war or
peace, but rather all the war elites in the “West of values” who want
to prevent the end of US-dominated world domination.
Now Israel, which has been engaged in a war of self-defense all over
the world for decades, has escalated its latent war of assassinations,
sabotage, and military strikes wherever they may be into an open war
against Iran.
The reason, they say, is Iran’s nuclear program, which is working
toward acquiring nuclear weapons.
If anyone knows how to convert a civilian nuclear program into a
military one, it is the West. This applies not only to Israel, but
also to Germany, which wanted to close this military cycle with the
“reprocessing plant” (WAA) in Wackersdorf.
Israel continues to emphasize with great hypocrisy that it does not
possess nuclear weapons. Anyone in Israel who claims otherwise and can
prove it is silenced.
Now, a few days ago, the Iranian government announced that it is in
possession of documents confirming that Israel has a military nuclear
program—with the full support of all those states that do not want to
know about it.
The Israeli attacks on Iran have been coordinated with the US and
certainly with other imperial powers in the West. Trump has confirmed
this in all his loudmouthedness by declaring his crazy “60-day
deadline” to have expired and that Iran must now bear the
consequences.
Iran has rightly described these massive military attacks as a
declaration of war.
A state of emergency has been declared in Israel, which does not
protect the population, but only the Israeli war cabinet.
It must be said, however, that the war elites are already taking care
of ensuring that the war does not kill them. Benjamin Netanyahu’s
presidential plane has already been spotted in the sky heading towards
X. Left behind are the people who, by and large, support or reject
Israel’s war course.
In fact, the Israeli war cabinet has now opened up the hell it
inflicts on others every day to itself.
What if Israeli nuclear facilities were bombed as a legitimate
military target to defend against a war of aggression? Nuclear
facilities that don’t even exist?
Complicit reporting
Since Russia started fighting on Ukrainian soil, German media have
been saying in every news flash that it’s a “war of aggression.” No
one says that about Israel’s attack on Iran. Not once has anyone
mentioned that it’s a war of aggression that violates international
law. Instead, this war, which has been planned for a long time by
propaganda and military means, is being sold to Germans as a
“preventive war.”
So you could say: when the wrong people start a war, it’s a war of
aggression. When the right people do it, it’s a preventive war.
Even the long-stated war aim of destroying Iran’s nuclear facilities
would be a war crime, a flagrant violation of international law, if
Russia could be accused of it. But when Israel does it, the reporting
is full of understanding, combined with a complete reversal of the
facts and the claim that Iran itself is to blame.
Der Spiegel summarizes Germany’s complicity in war crimes as follows:
“Many talks, great concern — but no criticism of Israel: For
Chancellor Friedrich Merz, dealing with the escalation in the Middle
East is a foreign policy test. Merz emphasizes how threatening he
considers Iran’s nuclear program — and does not condemn the Israeli
attack. This puts him in a similar position to French President
Macron.”
War criminal accomplices
What Chancellor Merz does not say, his CDU colleague Roderich
Kiesewetter, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, says openly
and in a manner that is relevant under criminal law:
“Israel’s targeted attack on nuclear facilities and high-value
military targets is necessary and serves the security of the entire
region” (Post, June 13, 2025).
Apart from the fact that Kiesewetter considers himself a colonial
administrator for the “entire region,” his hurrah for “high-value
military targets” is particularly repugnant: This obviously includes
Iranian nuclear scientists who were also murdered in the course of
this war of aggression.
CDU Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, currently in Cairo, also finds
warm words for a country that, out of sheer “will to defend itself,”
still has enough capacity to attack Iran: After the attack on Iran,
Germany will once again “stand in solidarity” with Israel.
_______________________________________________________
Bomb for bomb
Israel has entered into open war with Iran with air strikes. What is
behind this?
By Pajam Masoumi
[This article posted on 6/17/2025 is translated from the German on the
Internet, https://www.akweb.de/politik/bombe-fuer-bombe-israel-iran-angriff-atomprogramm/.]
No military target: on Sunday, the Israeli army bombed oil refineries.
Photo: picture alliance / ASSOCIATED PRESS | Vahid Salemi
Israel attacked Iran on Friday, June 13, with a multi-pronged
strategy. With nearly 200 fighter jets, drones, and targeted attacks,
including car bombs, the Israeli army and the Mossad foreign
intelligence service succeeded in dealing a severe blow to the
military leadership of the Islamic Republic. At the same time, at
least nine scientists and professors believed to have been involved in
Iran’s nuclear program were killed. Iran responded with a wave of 100
drones, which were easily intercepted. Since then, both countries have
been firing missiles at each other, and Israel has been bombing
targets throughout Iran.
According to Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu, the Islamic
Republic could have been in a position to build up to 15 nuclear bombs
in the coming months. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN,
and the US do not have this information, and the Israeli government
has not yet presented any evidence. Many of the attacks targeted
facilities involved in the nuclear program, such as the Natanz uranium
enrichment plant. Unlike many other countries, Iran’s program is not
concentrated in one facility but spread across the country. Since
Sunday, however, Israeli communications have also focused on regime
change in Iran.
The Islamic Republic viewed the attacks as a declaration of war and
sabotage of the ongoing nuclear negotiations with the US. This cannot
be dismissed out of hand – despite stalled talks, further negotiations
were scheduled for Saturday, which have now been canceled following
the attacks. In addition, Ali Shamkhani, Khamenei’s confidant and
Iran’s negotiator in the nuclear talks, was killed in the Israeli
attack on June 14.
Hundreds dead, thousands fleeing
Israel’s attacks (like Iran’s retaliatory measures) are not covered by
international law, even if they focused on nuclear facilities and
military targets. Israel is also deliberately destroying Iran’s air
defenses and declared on Saturday, June 14, that it had air
superiority over the entire country. This also demonstrates the
military weakness of the regime in Tehran, which was already unable to
defend itself against Israeli missile attacks last year. The targeted
elimination of military defense systems points to a prolonged war. And
this time, Iran has not only responded with drones, but is also
deliberately targeting Israeli infrastructure, such as the port of
Haifa.
The Israeli attacks are hitting the Iranian regime at a historic
moment of weakness.
Although most of the Israeli attacks began on nuclear facilities and
military targets, civilian infrastructure is increasingly coming under
fire. On Monday, June 16, a truck garage in the province of Kermanshah
was targeted by Israeli attacks, destroying a hospital located
directly next to the garage. In the afternoon of the same day, the
Israeli army ordered the evacuation of the entire District 3 of
Tehran, an area with over 300,000 inhabitants. Finally, on Monday
evening, the IDF bombed Iranian state television during a live
broadcast. Over the weekend, two airports, energy infrastructure, and
oil refineries had already been hit by missiles and severely damaged
in some cases. The death toll in Iran has also skyrocketed since the
attacks began on June 13: While around 70 deaths were reported on
Friday after the attacks, by Sunday the number had risen to more than
400, including many civilians. Videos of destroyed high-rise buildings
and residential complexes are circulating not only from Tehran.
Thousands are now fleeing the capital toward the Caspian Sea, but
Israeli shelling also reached that area over the weekend.
In Israel, too, Iran’s retaliatory measures have led to 24 deaths by
Monday afternoon, despite the Iron Dome missile defense system and
support from European countries in missile defense. Since the Israeli
attacks, the Israeli population has been urged to seek safety and stay
near air raid shelters.
The US responded to the attacks with ambiguous statements: Secretary
of State Marco Rubio denied any involvement in the airstrikes. Trump,
however, praised the attacks on his Truth Social platform and said
that the US had of course given the green light. The attacks came at
the end of a 60-day ultimatum that Trump claims to have given Tehran
to agree to a new nuclear deal.
Even before the Israeli attack, the US evacuated embassy staff from
the region. Trump warned the Islamic Republic that the US would
intervene if Iranian proxies, for example from Iraq, or even Iranian
forces attacked US facilities. Netanyahu said the attacks had been
planned for more than a year and that Mossad had even set up a drone
base in Iran.
According to the Israeli plan, the attacks were also intended to kill
the Iranian leadership, including Khamenei. However, according to
consistent reports by Reuters and AFP, Trump rejected this; the
killing of the Iranian leadership would only be discussed if Americans
were killed in Iranian attacks.
For Netanyahu, the attack on the Islamic Republic has already paid
off: governments that began to criticize the Israeli government and
its warfare after the blockade of aid deliveries to Gaza are now
firmly back on its side, emphasizing that Israel is merely defending
its legitimate security interests.
Despite the ongoing brutalization of the Gaza war, it now seems to be
receding into the background in light of a potential war with Iran.
This is probably also due to the fact that the internet in Gaza has
been down since June 10, when the last functioning data cable was
damaged during Israeli bombings. Parallel to the attacks in Iran,
Israel launched a blockade of the West Bank, reinforcing all
checkpoints towards Israel and closing them to Palestinian traffic.
This led to massive attacks by right-wing extremist settlers on
Palestinian villages and their inhabitants.
Beginning or end?
The Israeli attacks hit the Iranian regime at a historic moment of
weakness. The question is therefore whether the current events herald
the end of the “shadow war” that has been smoldering between Iran and
Israel for years, rather than unleashing a new war in the Middle East.
Ever since Khamenei assumed his role as spiritual leader of the
republic in 1989, Iran has pursued a strategy of repeatedly bringing
its rivals to the brink of war. This is usually done through attacks
by its proxies in Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq, while attempting to avoid
direct confrontation. This strategy has now failed: Hezbollah in
Lebanon is weaker than ever due to the war with Israel. Immediately
after the Israeli bombings began on June 13, the organization
announced that it would not participate in Iranian retaliatory
strikes. Even Syria, once an important location for the so-called Axis
of Resistance, is unlikely to provide much help to the regime. Even
before Assad’s fall, Israel had been bombing targets in Syria for
several months, mainly Iranian proxies, airports, and missile launch
systems. Since the fall of the Assad regime, Israel has been expanding
its occupation of Syrian territory.
Hamas in Gaza has also suffered heavy losses since its attack on
Israel on October 7, 2023, and will hardly be able to come to the aid
of the regime in Tehran. And even if it could, the rockets used by
Hamas have so far caused little damage in Israel. Moreover, unlike
Hezbollah, for example, Hamas has no interest in defending the Shiite
sect that predominates in Iran. And the Houthis in Yemen have neither
sufficient military nor human resources to withstand an open war
against Israel.
The regime in Tehran itself currently has other concerns: just
recently, the so-called headscarf law, which forces women in Iran to
wear the hijab in public, was suspended under pressure from the
population. Added to this are the largest strike in the transport
sector ever seen in Iran, as well as recently imposed US sanctions
that make it more difficult for China to circumvent the sanctions
already imposed on the Iranian oil sector. The regime will also be
unable to rely on Russia for much support: although the Kremlin
condemned the attacks, it is also benefiting from rising oil prices as
a result of the Israeli bombardment. And militarily, Russia is
embroiled in its own war of aggression in Ukraine. Iranian drone
production has become irrelevant for this purpose, as Russia has long
since built its own factories.
Hope for freedom
In Iran, but also in the Iranian diaspora, there is now growing
concern that the country could become even more authoritarian in the
wake of the war with Israel. In the first Gulf War (the Iran-Iraq War
from 1980 to 1988), for example, the Iranian regime persecuted and
murdered between 5,000 and 8,000 opposition members and imprisoned
countless others. The regime has also not forgotten the movement that
arose after the murder of Jîna Mahsa Amini in 2022: almost every day,
prisoners are sentenced to death and murdered, including a
particularly high number of people belonging to minorities such as
Kurds and Baluchis. Since the Israeli attacks on Friday, the Iranian
leadership has been moving military equipment into Kurdish areas for
reasons that are currently unclear. What is certain is that these
areas were particularly hard hit by the repression of street protests
in the context of the Jin-Jiyan-Azadî movement.
The regime in Tehran has not forgotten the movement that arose after
the murder of Jina Mahsa Amini in 2022: prisoners are sentenced to
death and murdered on an almost daily basis.
If the Iranian regime is currently so weak, the Iranian population is
suffering under repressive rule and Israeli bombs, and the military is
busy defending the state against an “external enemy,” could the
Iranian population not also turn openly against its “own” government?
This will probably remain nothing more than a hope. Although the
Jin-Jiyan-Azadî movement has been successful in abolishing the
compulsory wearing of headscarves, it has not been able to bring about
long-term change in Iran’s theocratic system. Instead, the movement
currently appears to be stagnating. There are many reasons for this:
during and after the protests, many people were imprisoned or
executed, and young men are currently being forcibly recruited into
military service. Furthermore, the movement did not pursue a common
goal, but was composed of different groups with different political
ideas. Joint organization is difficult to achieve under massive
repression and competition between population groups fueled by the
state; moreover, the protests have not produced any prominent figures,
let alone political leadership. The bombings of Israel are also
unlikely to increase widespread anger toward the regime—after all,
this time it is not the clerical leadership that is responsible for
the deaths of countless people, but the very state whose destruction
Iranian state propaganda has been hammering into the population for
some 40 years. The air war waged by a state that is currently
conducting a genocidal war in Gaza and destroying its own home is
unlikely to help overcome nationalism in Iran and generate sympathy
among the masses.
However, some are already positioning themselves: Reza Pahlavi, the
son of the Shah who was overthrown in 1979 and dubbed “Crown Prince”
by his supporters, has called on the Iranian people to revolt and is
already eyeing power himself. His father, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was
considered an ally by the US and Israel in their fight against the
Arab states. Although this friendship seems hardly possible today, it
is still visible to this day: the Mossad helped build the prison
system of the Shah’s former secret service. Today, the ruling Islamic
regime imprisons its opponents there, including opposition members
accused of collaborating with Israel on Sunday.
Iranian monarchists have a relatively small power base in Iran, but
are all the more dominant in the diaspora, threatening political
opponents and spreading the racist narrative of a Persian nation.
Ironically, this “crown prince” is now being presented by Western
media, such as the Tagesschau, as a possible transitional president,
since he presents himself as a friend of the West. But the idea that
the Iranian people will find the freedom they so desperately desire
with the help of Israeli missiles and the son of a dictator who has
already been overthrown is, above all, a Western projection.
Pajam Masoumi
is part of the online editorial team at ak.