The Pyromaniac and the Peacemaker: Netanyahu vs. the Region

There are moments in history when diplomacy dies with a whimper, not a bang. But this time, it may die with both. Israel, drunk on decades of unpunished aggression, has now hurled itself off the ledge of military recklessness, dragging its American enablers and the wider Middle East into yet another chapter of chaos. The target of this new Zionist tantrum? Iran—a nation of 90 million with a long memory, a steady hand, and a remarkable tolerance for provocation. Until now.

For over a year, Iran has exercised something bordering on saintly restraint. While Israeli airstrikes lit up Damascus, assassins lurked in the streets of Tehran, and mysterious “technical failures” befell Iranian infrastructure, the Islamic Republic did not take the bait. It could have retaliated a dozen times over, and with justification. But instead, it opted to keep the regional powder keg dry, all while engaging in serious, good-faith negotiations with the United States over its nuclear program. To say Iran was the adult in the room is not a compliment—it’s a condemnation of everyone else in it.

But Netanyahu, Israel’s increasingly unstable Prime Minister, has now crossed the final line. Israeli jets have struck Iranian territory directly, in a shocking escalation that reveals the full scope of Tel Aviv’s lunacy. This was not a response to a threat. It was the threat. A nuclear-armed apartheid state just launched preemptive attacks on a non-nuclear state engaged in diplomacy.

Even by the low standards of Israeli bellicosity, this is unhinged.

The world should be screaming. But the world, once again, is silent—because Washington is complicit. As always.

The Belligerent State with a Messiah Complex

Let us dispense with illusions: Israel’s foreign policy is not defensive. It is expansionist, supremacist, and governed by a messianic impulse to dominate the region militarily while playing the eternal victim diplomatically. Whether in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, or now Iran, the modus operandi is the same—instigate, provoke, strike first, cry foul, and expect a standing ovation from Capitol Hill.

This pattern is not new. But what is new is the scale and brazenness of Israeli aggression. What began as a genocidal war on Gaza—ongoing now for over twenty months—has metastasized into a regional campaign of destabilization. In Syria, Israel bombs airports and infrastructure with impunity. In Lebanon, it inches toward war with Hezbollah, hoping to drag the country into a devastating conflict. And now, the unthinkable: open war against Iran.

Netanyahu’s strategy is not just reckless; it is suicidal. But like many dangerous ideologues, he doesn’t mind taking the world down with him. His calculus is simple: provoke Iran until it retaliates, then scream “existential threat” and demand American intervention. It’s a cynical, high-stakes game, and one that only works because Washington plays along.

America: The Empire That Enables

One might have thought that after Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan, the United States would have learned a thing or two about the costs of blind loyalty to Israeli security fantasies. But here we are again: the Pentagon nods, Congress claps, and the President mutters something about “Israel’s right to defend itself,” as if Iran had randomly decided to bomb itself and blame Tel Aviv for sport.

The Biden administration, much like its predecessors, had chosen to subcontract U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East to a right-wing ethnostate with a bunker mentality. And while the Bidenites have at times seemed less enthusiastic than the Trump-era neocons, their actions (or inaction) speak volumes. Every Israeli bomb dropped on Iranian or Arab soil is American-approved, American-funded, and American-shielded at the UN.

But make no mistake—Trump is hardly an alternative. The idea that Donald Trump, that tweeting embodiment of impulse control failure, will tell Netanyahu to stand down is laughable. Trump has long worn his servility to the Zionist right like a badge of honor. From moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, to recognizing Israel’s annexation of Syrian land, to greenlighting whatever Netanyahu wants short of nuking Tehran, Trump has proven himself more court jester than commander.

And yet, ironically, Trump might be the only American figure with the personal sway over Netanyahu to dial things down—if he were not completely compromised by the very neocons he once pretended to scorn. His sporadic instincts toward de-escalation are always crushed by the whisperings of Kushner and company. So, don’t bet on The Donald becoming the dove.

Iran: The Last Adult in the Room

That leaves Iran—still standing, still sober. It is a country that has been demonized, sanctioned, infiltrated, and attacked, yet still insists on a negotiated path forward. Its leadership has made clear, repeatedly, that it seeks nuclear energy, not nuclear weapons. This is not merely rhetoric; it is codified in the very document the United States once championed: the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which Iran signed decades ago and Israel still refuses to even acknowledge.

Iran has lived up to its obligations more than any other state in the region. The UN’s own nuclear watchdog has consistently confirmed Iran’s compliance with nuclear agreements—until, of course, the U.S. unilaterally tore up the JCPOA under Trump, to Netanyahu’s applause.

Even after that betrayal, Iran offered to return to the deal. It waited. It negotiated. It tolerated assassinations of its scientists. It endured economic warfare. And still, it waited.

No more.

Iran’s recent military response to Israeli aggression was not impulsive, nor was it disproportionate. It was the logical endpoint of a year-long campaign of patience met with violence. The message was clear: Israel will no longer strike without consequence.

And while Western media are quick to hyperventilate about Iranian “provocations,” it’s worth remembering that Iran has never attacked another country unprovoked in modern history. Israel, by contrast, makes a sport of it.

Two Roads Out: Capitulation or Consequence

The question now is: who can rein in Netanyahu?

Path one is theoretical: Trump tells him to stop. But that would require Trump to be both politically independent and intellectually coherent—two traits he has never displayed simultaneously. It’s far more likely he’ll throw Israel more weapons while congratulating himself for “bringing peace.”

Path two is brutal but real: a military defeat so undeniable that Israel’s deterrence myth shatters. That defeat could come from a coordinated front of state actors like Iran and Syria, or from non-state actors like Hezbollah, whose arsenal and experience far outstrip anything the Israeli military has faced in recent years.

A real loss—not just in PR or the court of global opinion, but on the battlefield—might be the only language Tel Aviv understands. Only then might its leaders reconsider the wisdom of perpetual war as a national ideology. Until then, the mad dog will keep biting, and the empire will keep pretending it’s a misunderstood puppy.

The Path Forward—or the Plunge

This is not a call for war, but a warning about where one-sided diplomacy ends. The current trajectory is unsustainable. Israel cannot continue to bomb every neighbor that resists its hegemony, all while demanding the world view it as a besieged democracy. Iran cannot be expected to absorb aggression forever without retaliating. And the United States cannot keep pretending to be a neutral arbiter while funding and arming one side to the teeth.

The Middle East is being pushed toward an abyss—not by Iran’s nuclear ambitions, but by Israel’s sense of impunity and America’s addiction to double standards. The real danger isn’t that Iran will develop a bomb; it’s that Israel will keep acting like it already used one.

The irony, of course, is that the only player showing any rationality, any restraint, any desire for long-term regional stability, is the one demonized most loudly in Western capitals. Iran, with all its flaws and complexities, has acted like the grown-up in a room full of arsonists.

But even adults lose patience. And when they do, history doesn’t care who claimed to be the victim—it only remembers who lit the match.

Prof. Junaid S. Ahmad teaches Law, Religion, and Global Politics and is the Director of the Center for the Study of Islam and Decolonization (CSID), Islamabad, Pakistan. He is a member of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST – https://just-international.org/), Movement for Liberation from Nakba (MLN – https://nakbaliberation.com/), and Saving Humanity and Planet Earth (SHAPE – https://www.theshapeproject.com/).