An unwarranted war - and the blurring of truth and lies

That the first casualty in a war is more truth than axiom in every war can hardly be denied. Be it in the Indo-Pak war, the Gaza war or the Israel-Iran war, the truth about truth remains valid. What we get from the global media and from the numerous news outlets are half-baked facts or embedded reports from the frontline of the war. It is very hard to separate fact from fiction, even giving room for grey areas.

On the third day of the Iran attack, that's on the March 2, the U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a news conference that it was not the US that started the war, and the US will finish it. A blatant lie on the third day of the war. It all started on 28 February, with a coordinated military campaign by the US and Israel. The aerial bombardment against the various cities of Iran was in broad daylight, and Iran started to retaliate without delay. If retaliation is deemed as the beginning of the war, then Hegseth is right.

Perhaps he may be referring to the anti-government protests in Iran that rocked the country last January and the way the regime suppressed them. Yes, one can say that a state is waging war against its own people. But how can it be an all-out war? After all, the unrest in Iran was not supported by the entire citizenry or even a majority. In no way was it a mass movement like the one that happened in Bangladesh last year or in Tunisia in 2011. Indeed, there were people in Iran disgruntled by the economic hardships, the depreciation of Iranian Rial, but that of course was created by the decade-long sanctions by the US. The US and its allies were literally strangling Iran for years, and it finally led to the collapse of the economy which eventually led to the unrest. But the US failed to overthrow the government by fanning the protest. That has nothing to do with the ongoing war. Nor is it a logical reason to start a war.

This war was purely in Israel's interest, and the US supported it under the pretext of destroying Iran’s nuclear programme. Tucker Calson, the American activist and commentator, puts it clearly: “The United States committed troops to this conflict because the prime minister of Israel, not Israel as a nation but the guy who runs it, Benjamin Netanyahu – Bibi - demanded it on seven trips to the White House over the last year, and the point of those trips never varied. The United States needs to commit to regime change in Iran. We need the U.S. military to overthrow the government of Iran.”

Actually, Iran had conceded to zero stockpiles of uranium during the nuclear talks, as was revealed by the Omani foreign minister, Badr Bin Hamad Al-Busaidi, who was the intermediary in the talks. A narrative is deliberately being brought in that Iran started the war. The irony is that Trump had declared last January that the US B2 Bombers obliterated the Iranian nuclear programme. If it was obliterated, what's the point of attacking Iran again for not complying with nuclear disarmament? Here also, the rest of the world is blind about whether Iran has nuclear arms or not.

The US President Donald Trump mentioned regime change in his first broadcast about the start of the military campaign and asked the people of Iran, “to take back your government”. Later, his Defence secretary clarified that regime change is not the aim of the US. “This is not a so-called regime change war, but the regime sure did change”, Hegseth said evidently meaning the death of the Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Al-Khamenei.

The fact is that the US backed out of the initial goal. The UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is right to say that a regime can't be changed in the air.

As a matter of fact, Trump had no time to wait. He had to wriggle out from the Epstein file embarrassment. Its no small matter that the US President has been caught up in a sexual scandal.

Why did the US start the war along with the Israelis? The lies continue unabated. Mark Rubio, the Secretary of State, explained that Iran poses an imminent threat and would retaliate against the US once Israel attacks them. Trump has a different version: Iran was going to launch pre-emptive strike against the US on its own. In reality, the White House has been in a total mess with its latest war policy and aims.

Iran claimed that it targeted USS Abraham Lincoln, the huge aircraft carrier of the US, with four ballistic missiles. The US denied the claim. Again, the reality is far from what is seen. Tucker Carlson observes that Israel plans to bomb the assets in the Gulf countries. It may sound unimaginable. He details his claims, “ Why would the Israelis be committing bombings in Gulf Countries, which are also being attacked by Iran? Aren’t they on the same side?. Israel wants to hurt Iran, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait. Israel deliberately sows chaos among America’s Arab allies”. Thats how he describes the latest scenario without sharing any proof.

On the fourth day of the war, Israel claimed that it made a strike at a meeting of the Assembly of Experts, or Iran’s interim leadership council. Later, Tasnim news agency, a semi-official Iranian news agency, categorically denied the claim and termed it a psychological operation by the zionists. Another unverified lie by Israel.

The big picture of a war is always beyond the comprehension of common people. They form an idea fed by the mainstream media, which are invariably in line with the powers that be.