Futility of Fury

The US and Israel through their military actions are out of control. The outcomes of their actions in the form of reconfiguring the map of West Asia will also likely be beyond their control

- Amir Ali

A week into the United States and Israeli attacks on Iran there have been lies, damned lies and then contradictions to cover them up. Just as the Oman-mediated negotiations in Geneva showed some breakthrough with the announcement by Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi of Iran's commitment to zero stockpiling of uranium, the Israelis and the Americans attacked Iran. There was a repeat of the pattern that preceded the 12-day war in June 2025 which had started even as Oman conducted talks to prevent war. The current round of strikes followed a mere eight months after the 12-day war. If the US was successful in obliterating Iran’s nuclear ambitions as Trump claimed back in June 2025, then this attack gives the lie to that earlier claim. Did the Israelis force the hands of the Americans to attack Iran? President Trump was quick to dismiss the idea. This was followed by a statement by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio which became problematic. Rubio said that the Israelis were about to attack Iran, which meant that the Iranians would anyway strike, so the Americans decided to strike first. Rubio’s statement had a strange circular logic and seemed to let the cat out of the bag by saying the quiet part out loud.

The fact that Trump has been drawn into this war, despite promises to his MAGA support base, to not begin any new wars, points to the plausibility of the Israelis forcing the hand of the Americans. Trump’s ‘America First’ slogan sounds more like putting Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu first. Influential MAGA figures such as former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green and podcasters Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson have been crying foul at this privileging of Israeli interests over that of America. The thinning MAGA support base and its enthusiasm for Trump is now being stretched to breaking point in this latest round of imperial overreach effected by the president.