EDITORIAL
If the Iran-Israel clash continues for few more days, the planet is bound to suffer
It is said that “We’ll be remembered more for what we destroy than what we create.” Man, over the centuries has destroyed the world in various barbaric ways. The more advanced the civilisation has become, the more damage it has caused to the Earth. In fact, the global warming and its wider effects on the planet’s climate system have been driven by human activities during no more than past half-a-century.
Today, when the world is already suffering long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns, the increasing conflicts among various countries are making the human existence much difficult. The human race already weakened by the deadly Covid pandemic has now been threatened by these attacks and counter-attacks by the warring countries. The ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War, the in-progress Israeli-Palestinian and Gaza-Israel attacks, the highly strained relations between India and Pakistan after a recent short-lived war between them, and now Israel and Iran trading strikes, have all become a matter of concern for the world community.
Israel attacked targets at more than a dozen locations across Iran on June 13, in the largest assault on the country since the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, followed by retaliatory attacks on Israel. The conflict slowly taking shape of a war has now entered the fifth day. In fact, the related tension is clearly visible as a backdrop at the 51st G7 Summit that is presently being held in Canada. The threat from the discord between the two West Asian countries even prompted the US President Donald Trump to leave the G7 summit early, and during his departure warn people in Tehran that they should evacuate immediately.
Incidentally, the group of seven nations expressed support for Israel in a statement, further labelling its rival Iran as a source of instability in the Middle East, with the G7 leaders urging broader de-escalation of hostilities in the region. However, such an appeal appears to be just ineffective in controlling the ongoing conflict. On the contrary, the US Embassy in Israel damaged by an Iranian missile strike has raised major global alarm, and questions are being raised about America joining the conflict thus developing it into a full-blown war. The statement of President Trump that he was working on something “much bigger” than a ceasefire for a “real and lasting end” to the conflict between Israel and Iran, is indeed a matter of grave concern.
As the air war continues between Israel and Iran, the death toll on either side is mounting considerably. Israel has claimed to have killed several of Iran’s top military commanders and nuclear scientists, and damaged some of its nuclear sites. The latest announcement from the Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said that they struck a centre of Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence service, in Tel Aviv, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would not escalate hostilities, but would “end the conflict”.
Iran has been forced to partially shut operations at its South Pars gas field, after a fire caused by an Israeli air strike. Such incidents could push oil prices even higher. The experts fear that the conflict could disrupt the flow of oil to the rest of the world. This bloodthirsty ‘eye for an eye’ approach would not only leave everyone blind, but force the global economy to face an adverse shock. If the clash continues for few more days, the planet is bound to suffer. And that would not be in the interest of mankind!
