Daddy Wears a Red Cap

This month has been overwhelming. The outer chaos is seeping deep into my mind, with too many thoughts rushing in.

On the 13th of this month, when we all were thick in the influence of Operation Sindoor, yet another modern-day war strategy unfolded a few thousand miles away from us. Israel executed a covert operation in Iran, killing 11 senior nuclear scientists simultaneously using a secret weapon while the scientists were asleep in their abodes. That same day, Israel had eliminated 30 Iranian Military Chiefs in a single strike. During the 12-day war, Israel destroyed Iran’s communications centre, air bases, missile manufacturing facilities, and nuclear sites concealed deep within the mountains. Over the past 20 months, they have weakened Iran’s proxies - Hamas from Gaza, the Houthis of Yemen, and Hezbollah in Lebanon. While fending off attacks from Iran's ‘Triangle of Hostility’, they suddenly struck Iran’s critical infrastructure. It is like thrashing the head of an Octopus and chopping off its tentacles at the same time. (Yes! Those words are harsh as the war is brutal.)

Iran’s key infrastructure was damaged, military leadership was eliminated, and their nuclear programme became brain-dead. Their key supremo, Khamenei, went missing. When regime change appears imminent, Daddy says, “No! I don’t want it.”

As I write this, I remember the battered face of Mahsa Amini, killed for removing her hijab in public and all those women tortured and executed for demanding basic rights. The regime of Iran didn't just traumatize women; it stole innocence from youth, nurtured terrorism and spread terror abroad. My heart aches for the children trapped in the brutal world of terrorism. They could have a family life, the opportunity to gain wisdom and shape a beautiful tomorrow. Instead, they are made to carry guns, wear bombs, and hide in the dark till their supremo calls upon them to commit unspeakable acts.

While Arab monarchies invest trillions into socio-economic reforms to gain foreign cooperation, promote smart governance and develop their region, Iran’s clergy regime cultivates militias to impose their old beliefs and control the Arab world and beyond. Over decades, the Iranian regime cultivated IRGC and proxy forces in bordering regions, which the mighty Arabs declared terrorists but could not completely dismantle.

Iran had grown stronger. Despite facing isolation from the Arab world, the West-imposed economic sanctions, a U.N. arms embargo, the relentless surveillance, and covert operations by the world’s top spy agencies, Iran managed to build nearly a dozen nuclear sites and underground missile cities across its territory. With China’s support, Iran developed a domestic source of nuke-grade uranium. During the last 20 months, when Israel fought Iran’s proxies, Iran produced highly concentrated uranium, sufficient to make 10 nuclear bombs within a week. In other words, Israel was just a week away from annihilation, and the rest of the world was on the verge of silent submission to tyranny.

A strong and powerful Israel is not a threat to the Gulf but a nuclear-armed Iran is.

Operation Midnight Hammer destroyed Iran’s key nuclear facilities. But Daddy, this too could have been “catastrophic”, surely worse than the 4-day Operation by India against the terrorist land and way far worse than a regime-change chaos in Iran.

Some news reports claim that the Midnight Hammer did not strike hard enough, though Daddy described it as 'total obliteration' of the Iranian nuclear program. He unapologetically compared the Operation to the US nuke bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki! Daddy is a Nobel Peace Prize aspirant.

Mossad says that the Iranian threat has been significantly neutralised. And so, I believe the Israel-US strikes were a great success. The strikes must have pushed uranium reserves back into the quarry land. But, if those stockpiles were relocated beforehand, then I would say, "Iran has its yellowcake but cannot use it soon."

Yes, Daddy did what no one else dared to do. But don’t get it wrong. It is not for Israel; Daddy has a trillion-dollar US-Arab deal to guard! Don’t forget, Daddy wears a red cap!

When US Secretary Marco Rubio was questioned about the military situation in the wake of the US bombing of Iran, he stated unequivocally, “They are completely vulnerable. They don’t control their own airspace. They can’t protect their own airspace. They can’t even protect their own leaders. So I think it would be a big mistake if they did anything against us. ” This is not just about Iran. It is a harsh reality of much of the world, from Europe to the Middle East, from Oil rich to poor, from NATO to …

In that same interview, the US Secretary bluntly said: “The only reason we have an air base in Qatar, in UAE, in Saudi Arabia is because they are afraid that Iran will attack them, and they want us there to help defend them and so if Iran wasn’t a threat, we wouldn’t need those bases there.”

The US will not demand Iranian proxies to drop their weapons or the IRGC to surrender as long as they are at loggerheads with its biggest adversaries, Al-Qaeda and ISIS. The US will not hunt down Khamenei. It wants the Boogeyman to exist, so it continues to present itself as the saviour of the region and reap the riches.

They once killed Iran’s infant democracy and established a pro-Western regime to grab Iran’s oil stake. But when their preferred regime was overthrown, they watched silently, and the new strategy unfolded. Daddy knows this old game. He has no desire to be “Vishwaguru”. He is the 45th - 47th President of the United States. He wears a red cap and sways.

Former US Secretary and political scientist Henry Kissinger once said: "To be an enemy of the US is dangerous, but to be a friend is fatal."

(The writer is a foreign affairs expert.)