<img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-3295788 size-full" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/92da9d1d-afp__20260303__99pd4v8__v2__midres__topshotiranusisraelwar_cropped_1.webp" alt="" width="1600" height="1000" />
From Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah
The US-Israeli strike against Iran has shown the US up for what it is — the biggest global threat the world has ever seen.
It raises questions about Washington’s commitment to women’s rights, and how it has fed the Israeli agenda for the Arab states and in the process ignored international law.
How does the West expect Iran, or any nation for that matter, to react when their religious leader is assassinated during ongoing negotiations?
Even as talks on Iran’s nuclear agenda were still ongoing, a joint US-Israeli strike on Tehran killed not only supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei but dozens of other leaders as well.
The US has styled itself as an ardent champion of Iranian women’s rights to education and personal freedom. Yet it chose to obliterate a girls’ school in the Islamic republic, leaving some 160 schoolgirls dead.
How would any nation react to such an attack on its people?
Ironically, the West still expects Iran to exercise restraint and react in a civil manner in the middle of this unprovoked massacre undertaken by the US and Israel.
Nato members Britain, France and Germany even had the audacity to accuse Iran of using disproportionate force.
This is typical perverted Western logic. Rather than the loss of lives, it is economic fallout that has fuelled the West’s anger. Oil and gas prices are already rising.
On the other hand, they have shown minimal emotion to the genocide in Gaza caused by Western bombs and weapons.
Perhaps pressured by Israel, the US began the offensive against Iran without a proper war plan or exit strategy. Now, it is beginning to realise how resilient a foe Iran can be. Washington seems unable to handle the backlash from across the wide expanse of desert. Its military bases and embassies, as well as those of its Gulf allies, are now under attack by Iran.
At home, Trump himself is already feeling the heat. Members of the US Senate are angry that their approval had not been sought before the president sent in the armada. It seems Trump hears only Israel’s voice.
As Senator Chuck Schumer said on CNN, the White House has issued a different justification for the attack every day. It varies from the fear that Iran already has a nuclear bomb to the desire to enable a regime change.
This underscores the lack of cohesion in planning. There is no clear aim, strategy or exit plan because the US was just dragged into the fight by Israel.
The White House is in a terrible mess today.
The rest of the world now has to bear the costs of the US’s irresponsible act led by Israel’s coercion. In its counterattacks, Iran has bombed oil and gas facilities as well as US embassies in the Gulf. The impact on the global economy will be far-reaching.
The US is reaping what it has sown, having openly ignored international law and its role in the UN, as exemplified by its earlier roles in Gaza, Venezuela and now Iran.
The US is not in a position to protest an attack on its embassy in Qatar, given its bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in 1999.
In any case, the US has always condoned Israeli bombings of Arab embassies and now the killing of Khamenei.
This dangerous precedent set by the US has created international lawlessness and anarchy, making the world very unsafe. Its desperation to get out of the mess it has created in Iran will lead the superpower to undertake more fatal steps.
Now that killing Khamenei and other Iranian leaders has not led to the Islamic republic’s capitulation, the CIA is arming the Iranian Kurds to create internal strife to topple the government.
They are making the same mistakes they made in Iraq and Syria. More regional instability is going to surface to haunt the Gulf region.
The world should realise that the US hegemony is one of the biggest threats to the world today, especially for those in South America, Greenland and now, the Gulf region too.
The world should reassess how the present global order should be reconstructed, seeing that Nato is unsettled by the US’s antics and the UN is being undermined by the US’s arrogance. Many nations have been migrating towards BRICS as a new stable grouping.
Now, even US citizens cannot expect their government to protect them. As Trump briefs the media on how the Iranian navy and airforce have been destroyed, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is advising Americans to find their own way out of the Gulf.
The advice should have come before the attack was launched. How irresponsible is that? Rubio’s statement shows that the safety of US citizens is almost an afterthought.
The fact that the exit plan is in itself totally chaotic shows that Israeli prompting for war takes precedence over its own citizens’ safety.
The question is that if Israeli interests take precedence over the safety of US citizens, where does that leave other US allies and the rest of the world?
The US left Vietnam and later Iraq in a mess, and is now in the process of abandoning Ukraine. That says a lot about the US’s sense of responsibility and reliability today.
&nbsp;
Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah is chairman of Amanah’s international bureau and an FMT reader.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.

MatchPoint Times

The US’s reliability and responsibility is now in question

The world superpower’s attack on Iran shows it up as a lackey of Israel.

Piastri cool on prospects of breakthrough win at Australian Grand Prix

Lelaki didenda RM2,500 kerana guna parang ugut kakak tak kejut tidur