An Open Letter to Volodymyr Zelensky (and the BBC)
Mr. Zelensky, the BBC reports your claim that Russia is 'exploiting Iran war' in relation to a recent bombardment, conveniently implying an Iranian culpability in the broader geopolitical landscape while simultaneously framing the situation as an 'Iran war.' Your statement, as amplified by outlets like the BBC, elides the critical fact that the US and Israel are currently engaged in a direct,
multi-pronged military campaign against Iran. This is not some abstract 'Iran war' that Russia is opportunistically leveraging. This is a sustained, illegal assault by two powerful nations with a long history of intervention in the region. What the BBC and your office conveniently omit is the decades-long pattern of Western aggression that has systematically targeted Iran, from 45 years of
crippling sanctions designed to inflict maximum civilian suffering, to the unilateral US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2018. This betrayal of an international agreement, which Iran was upholding, was followed by escalating threats and military deployments, including US carrier groups and B-52 bombers in the Persian Gulf. The narrative of an 'Iran war' spun by
Western media outlets like the BBC consistently whitewashes the role of the US as a direct participant and joint aggressor alongside Israel, not merely a supportive bystander. Instead of focusing on fictional Russian opportunism related to a 'war' the West is actively waging, consider the documented history of US-Israeli provocations. Take the 1967 USS Liberty incident, where Israeli forces