Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Netanyahu: If Lebanese Army takes steps to disarm Hezbollah, Israel will engage in reciprocal measures, including phased reduction of Israeli military presence in Lebanon
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Photojournalist Houssam Al-Masri martyred, reporters Hatem Omar, Mohammad Ashraf Salameh injured in Israeli strike on Nasser Medical Complex.
Israeli media: Intense US efforts are being made to resolve differences, such as the issue of the Israeli presence on Mount Hermon and in southern Syria
Israeli media: The security agreement means amending the disengagement agreement, which will also address the Druze issue
Israeli media: Attempts to reach a security agreement between 'Israel' and Syria were among the topics discussed at the Paris meeting
Israeli media: Sheikh Muwaffaq Tarif rejected a US proposal to join the recent tripartite meeting between Tom Barrack, al-Shaibani, and Dermer
Saba News Agency: Two martyred, five injured in a preliminary toll of the Israeli aggression on the Yemeni Oil Company station on Al-Sitteen Street in Sanaa
Senior Yemeni military source to Al Mayadeen: We observed a state of confusion among the enemy's aircraft squadron after Yemeni air defenses intercepted the attack
Senior Yemeni military source to Al Mayadeen: The Yemeni air defense forces succeeded in neutralizing a squadron of enemy aircraft and prevented airstrikes on some governorates
Senior Yemeni military source to Al Mayadeen: Our air defenses and missile forces forced a formation of enemy aircraft to flee the airspace

War with Iran a 'grave error': UnHerd

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Unherd
  • 4 Jan 2024 22:01
  • 2 Shares
4 Min Read

Aaron Bastani writes in Unherd that Western calls for war with Iran will have disastrous-and mostly unintended consequences.

  • x
  • War with Iran a
    In this picture released by the official website of the Iranian Army on Sunday, Dec. 24, 2023, Talaeieh missile system is displayed in an unveiling ceremony at a naval base near the Indian Ocean in the southern Iranian port of Konarak, some 850 miles (1,400 kilometres) southeast of the capital, Tehran, Iran  (Iranian Army via AP)

According to an analysis by Aaron Bastani in UnHerd, recent calls by Israeli and US officials to overthrow the Iranian regime may not be the simple solution to eradicating resistance factions in the Middle East. 

Last week, Naftali Bennett, the Israeli occupation regime's former prime minister posted on X claiming that Iran was a "terror octopus" and calling for the US to target Tehran. John Bolton also made similar comments when he claimed that the solution to increasing security in the Middle East would be to "overthrow the mullahs."

Bastani believes that Iran, although it is true that Iran operates through what he described as "regional proxies," meaning resistance axis parties, recent escalations in Lebanon and Iraq, and YAF attacks on Israeli vessels in the Red Sea, are directly related to the aggression on Gaza, with many of the Arab world especially resistance groups declaring that such attacks would not end unless Palestine sees a ceasefire. 
 
Although much of the Arab world shares these feelings, what Iran brings to the table is "military intelligence and hardware capabilities" like drones and precision missiles. 

The author admits that though Iran is "a thorn in the side of both the US and 'Israel" the rewards of such a confrontation look questionable.

War, like so many other things, is subject to the law of unintended consequences. Even after the debacles of the previous two decades in Afghanistan and Iraq that is something that far too few Western decision-makers seem to understand, he says.

Read more: Iran's deployment of warship 'boldest move yet' in the face of US

In addition, he argues that there is no evidence to suggest that toppling the current government of Iran would lead to a more Western-friendly alternative.

Related News

Ultra-Orthodox draft revolt exposes Israeli fractures: NYT

Doctors in Gaza report severe levels of hunger: AP

The consequences of a failed war with Iran, a country three times the size of Iraq, are difficult to overstate, the author stresses.

He points out that Iran can feed itself, an abundance of fossil fuels (the sale of which, like Russia, has lessened the effects of US sanctions), a formidable military-industrial complex, and produces more steel than any other EU nation save Germany.

Senior US official to visit 'Israel' hoping to prevent war: Reports

The United States wants to prevent an escalation that might evolve into a regional war by sending a senior diplomat to occupied Palestine to prevent the Israeli occupation from committing a blunder, Israeli media reported.

The Israeli KAN public broadcaster said there were talks about US President Joe Biden's special envoy on Israeli-Lebanese issues, Amos Hochstein going on a trip to occupied Palestine.

Hochstein mediated talks that culminated in a maritime demarcation agreement that put to bed some stark tensions previously, and he is currently reportedly trying to prevent an escalation that might lead to an all-out war on Lebanon. 

The US diplomat is also pushing forward with an agreement on land demarcation, which the Israeli outlet said "Tel Aviv" did not oppose and had previously discussed its stipulations.

Hochstein is slated to visit occupied Palestine on Thursday to meet with several senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others.

The US diplomat will present what he heard from Lebanese authorities to the Israeli regime and then will receive the Israeli standpoint, which is that they do not oppose the agreement, the outlet said.

According to KAN, the Israelis want their settlers back in the north again. However, they will not send them back there without an agreement because that would lead to a war.

  • war on Gaza
  • Iran
  • Benjamin Netanyahu
  • Israel
  • Palestine
  • Israeli occupation
War on Gaza

War on Gaza

Most Read

Tom Artiom Alexandrovich, executive director of the defense division of the Israeli National Cyber Directorate, undated (Social media)

Israeli-born US prosecutor drops Israeli officer child sex crime

  • Politics
  • 19 Aug 2025
Displaced Palestinians walk through a makeshift camp along the beach in Gaza City, Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025 (AP)

Hamas, other factions accept Egypt-Qatar ceasefire proposal: Exclusive

  • Politics
  • 18 Aug 2025
Israeli soldiers stand on the top of armoured vehicles parked on an area near the Israeli-Gaza border, as seen from southern Israel, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025 (AP)

Palestinian fighters target Israeli soldiers, vehicles in Gaza

  • Politics
  • 21 Aug 2025
Almost instantly after the Helsinki Accords were signed, organisations sprouted to document purported violations, whose findings were fed to overseas embassies for international amplification. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab el-Hajj)

How ‘Human Rights’ became a Western weapon

  • Opinion
  • 23 Aug 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference at the Prime minister's office in al-Quds, Occupied Palestine, Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Netanyahu deliberately derailing truce with Gaza occupation: Hamas

Irish President Michael Higgins arrives to deliver his speech during a 42nd World Food Day celebration at FAO headquarters in Rome, on Oct. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Politics

Irish president renews call for UN military intervention in Gaza

US Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the US Embassy in Aukar, northern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, July 21, 2025 (AP)
Politics

US envoy, Netanyahu discuss restraining attacks on Lebanon, withdrawal

Smoke billows following Israeli airstrikes in multiple areas in Sanaa, Yemen, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Ansar Allah vow sustained Gaza support despite Israeli strikes

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS