The Middle East conflict

The ongoing war between Iran and the United States/Israel may lead to a global war, if nothing is done now to broker peace. Although condemned by the United Nations and many countries, the carnage, which started on February 28, is yet to abate.

The US and Israel started the attacks by killing Iran’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and many senior members of the Iranian leadership. Iran retaliated by firing missiles and drones on US bases in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Syria, Cyprus and some other Arab nations. This recent action appears to be a corollary to Operation Midnight Hammer, which the US launched in June 2025. Trump claimed after that attack that he had obliterated Iran’s nuclear programme.

At the heart of the recent attack is the belief that Iran has the capability of acquiring nuclear power, which the US and Israel are opposed to. The US under Donald Trump wants regime change in Iran and a reduction in the threat posed by Iran’s missile arsenal. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, believe that a powerful Iran is a danger to both Israel and US and must be dismantled.

However, the attack is an aggression against a sovereign nation. It is against the United Nations treaty and charter. It depicts Trump as a believer in the might-is-right philosophy. Russian President Vladimir Putin described it as a cynical violation of all norms of human morality and international law. China sees it as a violation of Iran’s sovereignty. It called for immediate cessation of the attacks. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the UN Security Council that the airstrikes violated international law and the UN Charter.

Already, many people are stranded in the Middle East. Global air transport is in chaos as the Middle East air hubs are closed. Oil prices are rising, just as global stock markets are rattled. The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the global benchmark, surged to over $119 mark on Monday, hitting levels not seen since 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine. Crude traded at $70 a barrel before the war broke out.

There has been disruption of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Bahrain’s state oil company, Bapco Energies, has announced a force majeure after it was struck overnight. The crisis has led to demonstrations in many countries, including Nigeria where fuel prices have risen to over N1,000 a litre.

So far, at least 1,230 people have been killed in Iran alone as of Monday, March 9. This includes about 175 schoolgirls and staff killed in their school in Minab following a missile attack on the first day of the war. This figure appears to exclude a fresh report by the Iranian Army on Sunday that 104 people were killed and 32 others injured in an attack by the US on an Iranian warship off Sri Lanka’s coast last week. Over 5,000 civilians have sustained various injuries.

In other Gulf states, people have also been killed from missile and drone attacks. In Saudi Arabia, two people were reported killed when a projectile struck a residential area in the city of Al-Kharj. Deaths have also been reported in Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Syria and Iraq.

Nearly 400 people have been killed in Lebanon; and at least 11 in Israel. Even the US has sustained some casualties. It lost eight American service members. Bangladesh closed universities to conserve electricity.  

The regime change that the US and Israel desire may not change anything, just as the orchestrated regime change in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya didn’t solve the problems it was envisaged to solve. Already, Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, the second son of the slain Iranian Supreme Leader, has been appointed the new Supreme Leader of Iran. President Masoud Pezeshkian and other political leaders supported the appointment.

The new Supreme Leader is going to continue from where his father, who ruled for 37 years, stopped. He has close ties with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. He is the Islamic Republic’s third leader since it was founded in 1979. Trump has rejected Khamenei’s son as Supreme Leader.   

Trump should keep to his promise, which he made as president-elect in December 2016. He said then that the US would stop racing to topple foreign regimes that it knew nothing about. He should be told that this Operation Epic Fury in Iran is needless and goes against his pledge to stop unnecessary foreign interventions.    

We call on the UN to rise to the occasion and broker peace in the Middle East. It should move fast to de-escalate this conflict and avert another global war after World War I and World War II.

Let there be dialogue among the warring nations. War is not the best strategy to settle disputes. The world needs peace now more than ever before. The carnage in the Middle East must be stopped. There must be respect for the UN Charter. Diplomatic solution is the way to go.