'India must tread carefully': Manish Tewari warns of global turmoil amid Iran-Israel conflict

In a wide-ranging conversation with Priya Sahgal on NewsX's Cover Story, Congress MP and former Union Minister Manish Tewari offered a detailed analysis of the Iran-Israel conflict and its broader implications on global geopolitics.

- TDG NETWORK

Speaking not just as a politician but also in his capacity as a geopolitical commentator, Tewari began by calling the current state of global affairs "unprecedented turmoil" since the end of the Second World War.

"The global order constructed post-World War II is completely and absolutely in turmoil," Tewari said, adding that geopolitical tensions have reached boiling points across multiple regions — from North America to Europe, the Middle East to Asia.

AMERICA'S STRAINED TIES AND SHIFTING ALLIANCES Tewari explained how U.S. foreign policy, especially under Donald Trump, has destabilized traditional alliances.

"There are tensions between the United States of America and its closest neighbor Canada... and also with its NATO allies," he noted, citing Vice President Mike Pence's controversial speech in Munich that he said "threw European strategic elite under the bus."

He pointed to the prolonged Russia-Ukraine war — now in its fourth year — as draining Europe's strategic attention, even as tensions in the Middle East escalate.

MIDDLE EAST ON THE BRINK: IRAN, ISRAEL, AND THE US Focusing on the heart of the matter, Tewari dissected the Iran-Israel tensions and the potential role of the United States.

He emphasized that the U.S. maintains military ties with 18 countries in the Middle East, excluding Israel, which could complicate its response to the conflict.

He pointed out the strategic and historical hostility between the U.S. and Iran.

"The regime in Iran, notwithstanding sanctions, has proven to be very resilient now over four and a half decades," he said.

Recalling the 1979 hostage crisis, Tewari noted, "The United States has a long strategic memory... and has not forgotten the humiliation of that raid."