A great number of Muslim countries have not only geographic importance, but they also have abundant natural resources. History shows that the West has targeted one Muslim country after another to exploit their resources. Muslim countries have been victimised in various ways by the West over a long period of time. The trade embargoes, legal sanctions, the capture of financial assets, freezing of bank accounts worth billions of dollars, targeting State institutions and high-level State individuals are a few examples. Most of all, a tool of fear was systemically and collaboratively used by the West to subjugate Muslim countries and to exploit their resources in the long run. Humiliating Muslim countries and abusing them badly by the West is not a hidden fact. However, it seems that the time has come to curtail these acts of the West. The US-Israeli war against Iran and Iran’s victory against the world’s mightiest power have shifted the views and thoughts of the Muslim world.
Iran is a sovereign State and a peaceful nation. Last year, the USA, all of a sudden, started threatening Iran to sign a pre-dictated one-sided mutual agreement. This was an exhibition of the arrogance and disrespect for a Sovereign nation. The West has made mutual agreements with various Muslim countries, including Palestine and Lebanon. However, those mutual agreements were immediately violated. Violation of treaties or mutual agreements largely by the West is a common reality. The West eyed at the material resources of Muslim countries, rather than showing respect for the principles and values, treaties or agreements. The treaties and mutual agreements have also been trodden over by the West to expand Israel, another example. The complicity of the West in the alleged genocide of Palestinians is not hidden since the West had the responsibility to prevent it from occurring.
The West’s meddling in the domestic matters of Muslim States to exploit their resources is not a new phenomenon. The 1953 coup d’état reminds us of the history when the USA illegally intervened to prevent the nationalisation of Iran’s own resources. The West continued to support former leader Reza Shah Pehlavi because he was one of their puppets serving their objectives. It is the Islamic government of 1979 that retrieved Iran’s true independence.
The record shows that Iraq was first used against Iran, and then was deceived into a trap and targeted. It appears that the Iraq model was used against Iran to weaken, subjugate, defeat and, subsequently, exploit its vast resources. For this purpose, a well-organised propaganda campaign against Iran was launched by the West. Iran was portrayed as a security threat to the region and the world, whereas it was not consistent with the historical reality of Iran. Iran was systemically blamed for being governed by the religious fundamentalists who were portrayed as against the so-called freedoms of the West. When Iran was unwilling to allow the West to exploit its natural resources and compromise the freedoms of its people, sanctions were imposed on it. When Iran continued resisting, more sanctions were imposed on Iran to strangle its economy and people’s freedoms.
It is not a hidden truth that last year, a one-sided ceasefire agreement was declared by the invading USA and Israel to tacitly re-arm and regroup. This was indeed the defeat of both the USA and Israel, even when backed by the West. This time again, a temporary ceasefire was declared by both the invading countries for the same purpose. This time, Donald Trump even admitted to being regrouped and re-armed with the weapons on their ships and other platforms. It once again shows that they were defeated. When the purpose of the ceasefire is to re-arm and re-group, it takes no longer for any sane person to understand that the ceasefire is untrustworthy. It is only used by the West as a tool to re-arm and re-group, given the evidence.
The USA’s negotiations with Iran were nothing but to force a sovereign State to bow down before imperialism. Threats with weapons of mass destruction, compelling Iran to the negotiation table and then stabbing the negotiation table showed the true face of the West, which calls itself civilised. It is understood that during the negotiation period between two or more sovereign nations, peace is guaranteed. Negotiations themselves become a guarantee of peace until the parties formally close the doors with no further talks. Civilised nations never use negotiations as a tool to attack a nation that seeks a peaceful settlement of disputes. However, it happened in Iran’s case when the West deceived Iran at the negotiation table, not once or twice, but numerous times. It is very unfortunate to witness, again and again, the true face of the West, especially of the USA.
History knows that the Muslims countries that had vibrant armies and strong defence institutions were targeted one by one and neutralised to the extent that they did not remain a threat to the hegemonic interests of the West and Israel. They, as stated earlier, attacked one Muslim country after another. Iran is a recent example. Iran’s only fault in the eyes of the West is that it, after the Islamic revolution of 1979, has not bowed down to the hegemony of the West. Instead, it rose up against the injustices committed by the West, including the creation of Israel upon Palestine and its expansionism. It is not a hidden truth that Israel is an illegitimate State imposed upon the Middle East by occupying Palestinians’ land in 1948. Since then, Israel has become an axis of evil – the alleged genocide of Palestinians is a recent example.
Iran’s active voice and resistance against Israel’s crimes and support for the Palestinian people have been intolerable for the West. The West learned that Iran was the only active barrier to the expansion of Israel. The well-documented genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed by the present Israeli regime in complicity with the West were aimed at expanding Israel’s geography. The Israeli’s expansion was impossible without committing genocide against the Palestinians, the owners of the land. This simple fact was known to the West, the accomplice. Iran’s defeat was supposed to meet the two fundamental objectives, i.e., removing the resisting voice or barrier to Israel’s expansion and exploiting the vast Iranian resources by way of regime change. To the utter disappointment of the West and Israel, neither of the fundamental objectives is achieved. It means that more horrific crimes against the Iranian nation can be expected.
The USA claims to be the world’s mightiest military power and a civilised nation. This civilised nation, along with Israel, by continued attacks on Iran this year, realised that Iran was an undefeatable nation. Both the USA and Israel started targeting the civilian population and civilian infrastructure indiscriminately. The USA explicitly stated its sheer disregard for international law or the rules of war. Though they did not spare the civilian lives and civilian infrastructure from the very first day when they killed school children, they continued targeting more and harder following their repeated statements of the heavier and the heaviest attacks. The USA repeatedly threatened to target more civilian infrastructure, resulting in civilian casualties. The US President Donald Trump’s threat to send Iran “back to the Stone Age” is not hidden. It shows that the USA and Israel have deliberately targeted the civilian population and civilian infrastructure to inflict pain upon the Iranian public because the Iranian public strongly and steadfastly stood with their government. It is thus evident that the so-called civilised West had no respect for the rights of the civilian population, including children. This was already evident, considering the alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed against Palestinians in Gaza.
The entire West has not succeeded in subjugating the Iranian people since 1979. It is a mere oblivion that the world’s biggest military might and Israel, an illegitimate state on the face of the earth, can erase the Iranian nation. Iran is not merely a country but a civilisation with its own language, culture and historical background. Islamic values have strengthened their spirit to an insurmountable level to never bow down before any imperialist power or the hegemony of the West.
The Pakistani Prime Minister recently stepped in as a mediator between the USA and Iran. The Pakistani nation, including the government, needs to understand that it is not a time to play a neutral role but to side with the Iranians brothers against the open aggression committed by the USA and Israel, again and again. It is a moral and legal obligation of the Muslim countries to stand with the victim nation, rather than facilitating the aggressors.
The persistent crimes of Western countries against Muslims countries point to their permanent animosity against the Muslim world. Instead of making mutual agreements or treaties with the West, which had little respect for such agreements or treaties, the actions of the West must be the determining point for any consideration that the Iranian government needs to pay attention to. The previous experiences of Iran with the West show how they have stabbed Iran behind the back, under the cover of negotiations or agreements. This is a typical character of the West, which is not new at all. Trusting any Western country, including the USA, would thus be the beginning of the Iranian disaster.
Iran’s experience has once again proved that never trust the West, but prepare for the worst to be the best. Once again, Iran’s victory against the world’s mightiest military power is the best example for the Muslim world to learn from.
- The writer of the article is Maqsood Ali, who is a doctoral researcher in International Criminal Law.
- He can be contacted via maqsoodali_326@yahoom.com