Mar 09, 2026 10:08 am IST

Opinion | Who Will Trump Attack Next? Hint: Follow The Chinese Money Trail

What's common to Iran, Venezuela, Cuba? Hint: Three Chinese 'channels'.

Tara Kartha Tara Kartha Columnist

Tara Kartha Columnist

As the US and Israeli onslaught on Iran escalates, the question that is puzzling most analysts is why President Donald Trump, who declares that he wants to stop all wars, is starting one, that too in a region that has no good historical memories for the US. Many reasons, some of them surprising, have been put out by the White House and others, among which is that Iran was going nuclear, the regime change objective, and the most bizarre of all, that there was an imminent threat to the US, since a certain state was going to attack them anyway. That's not international relations, that's an excuse.

Trump's Ever-Changing Motives

Take those one by one. First, the charge that Iran was going nuclear was dismissed by Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), saying there was no structured programme on. He did qualify it by saying that the organisation had not been given full access to its 'near weapons-grade' uranium, meaning it could not provide full assurance. 

Then came the statement by Omani negotiators that Iran had agreed to "zero accumulation, zero stockpiling, and full verification" by IAEA inspectors. Yet, the war started the next day. 

Then came Peter Hegseth, who said that regime change was not the objective, but to destroy Iran's missile programme and navy, a point never earlier raised in negotiations. Israel's motives are clear given that Iran has never accepted the existence of Israel. Publicly, it said that it saw an opportunity to kill Ayatollah Khamenei, and took it. With US 'body bags' now reaching a reported six, and serious destruction of US assets in Qatar among others, the determination of Washington to go for a war that other Presidents refused despite Israeli cajoling, has analysts puzzled.

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