“I do the wrong and first begin to brawl. The secret mischiefs that I set abroach I lay unto the grievous charge of others… And thus I clothe my naked villainy With odd old ends stol’n forth of Holy Writ, And seem a saint when most I play the devil.” — Richard III (Act 1, Scene 3) by William Shakespeare

he US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran is the biggest story across the world. It is being reported by the minute and hour. Given the latency between writing this article and its publication, I cannot and do not intend to follow the news cycle.

Instead, the purpose here is to (a) dissect the conflict’s opening phase by examining its war aims; (b) briefly discuss its illegality, a central issue that has been pushed to the back-burner; (c) the dynamics of the US-Israeli alliance; (d) Iran’s strategic response and how it could be reshaping the region; (e) the efficacy of air power in light of classical strategic theory; and, finally, the likely scenarios, albeit given the fluidity and the complexity of the situation such a venture is akin to sticking one’s neck out.

Let’s begin with using the device of the inverted pyramid and state some facts.

FACT 1: This war is as sickeningly deceitful as the one Israel launched on June 13, 2025. Then as now, the United States was negotiating with Iran. Then as now, the war was imposed on Iran just days before the next round of talks was to take place. Then as now, to quote William Shakespeare again, the devil is citing Scripture for his purpose.

FACT 2: This flows from the above: negotiations were a ruse. In fact, as was broadly and consistently noted by multiple analysts, the talks were designed to fail. The fact that a war was being planned and deliberated has been established by multiple reports and analyses, notably by a detailed story in The New York Times dated March 3, 2026 and titled How Trump Decided to Go to War with Iran. Benjamin Netanyahu began lobbying for war in December last year, when he went to Mar-a-Lago. The central objective was to decapitate Iran’s civil and military leadership. Then, during a February 11, 2026 meeting at the White House, Netanyahu “discussed the prospects of war and even possible dates for an attack.”

The US-Israeli war against Iran reveals a deeper strategic puzzle amid shifting American objectives, Israel’s consistent pursuit of regime collapse and an Iranian strategy built on horizontal escalation. As air power collides with geopolitical reality, the only certainty is that this conflict will permanently scar the Middle East. How did we get here and what happens next?

The US-Israeli war against Iran reveals a deeper strategic puzzle amid shifting American objectives, Israel’s consistent pursuit of regime collapse and an Iranian strategy built on horizontal escalation. As air power collides with geopolitical reality, the only certainty is that this conflict will permanently scar the Middle East. How did we get here and what happens next?

From this point onwards, despite the ongoing negotiations, Trump began expressing his scepticism about talks and even determined, in answer to a question, that it “seems like [regime change] would be the best thing that could happen.”

FACT 3: The Gulf states and also Turkiye were trying to prevent the war but appear to have been supportive of the expansive agenda. War is problematic but it’s a good moment to force Tehran into conceding more than just nuclear-related demands. In other words, these Muslim states, traditionally wary of Iran, and some like the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain working in collusion with the Zionist entity, did not want a war but definitely wanted the US to defang Iran. They have got the war. In the end, the Zionist duo did not even bother to inform them of the timing of the attack.

FACT 4: Since Iran’s regime is being constantly referred to as a theocracy that must be uprooted, it’s important to flag the point about the Biblical references emanating from the US and Israel. The initial name of the operation, Shield of Judah, was Biblical, later rebranded by the US as Operation Epic Fury and Israel as Operation Rising Lion.

US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, during a press briefing, referred to “Biblical wisdom”, and Netanyahu again invoked the massacre of Amalek, a persistent enemy of the Israelites described in the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament, to describe the war on Iran. Then, on March 5, 2026, Christian leaders held an Oval Office prayer for Trump, featuring strong evangelical overtones, including laying hands on him, invoking Jesus’ name, and calling for wisdom and protection. The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee believes Jewish right to Palestine is rooted in a Biblical deed. Examples abound, going back to the founders of the Zionist entity who stole the Palestinian land.

We can now proceed to what this war is about and whether Trump’s and Netanyahu’s objectives are the same.

TRUMP’S WAR AIMS MIGHT BE SHIFTING, NETANYAHU’S ARE CONSISTENT

Much is being made of Trump’s shifting, even contradictory, war objectives. I won’t go into the details of his flip-flops because, by now, they have been identified and discussed to death. What is important, though, is to appreciate how Trump’s vast inner vacuousness, which informs his narcissism, has allowed Netanyahu to play him.

Democrat Senator Chris Von Hollen told the media that Netanyahu had been trying to drag the US into a war with Iran for the past four decades and has “finally found a [US] president stupid enough to do his bidding.”

My own assessment, given the evidence, is that Trump decided to replicate his Venezuela moment. This is borne out by his various statements, especially those related to regime change and his cretinously naive assertion after the assassination of Iran’s supreme leader that........

© Dawn (Magazines)