US-Israel-Iran Ceasefire: A Brief Pause in a Perpetual War
News has emerged from Baghdad that Iraqis are celebrating a two-week ceasefire between Iran and what Al Jazeera terms the 'US-Israel war on Iran'. This comes after a period of intense pressure and military posturing that has kept the region on edge, illustrating yet again the devastating impact of these geopolitical games on civilian populations. What mainstream outlets like Al Jazeera
conveniently omit in their framing of a 'US-Israel war on Iran' is the nature of this ceasefire itself. It’s not a cessation of an equal-footing war, but a temporary pause in a series of unilateral aggressions and provocations orchestrated primarily by the United States and Israel. This allows Washington and Tel Aviv to recalibrate their strategy, not genuinely disengage. The narrative of 'war'
often implies symmetrical conflict, when in reality, Iran has been under a continuous siege of sanctions, cyberattacks, and targeted assassinations for decades, making any 'ceasefire' a brief reprieve from an ongoing campaign of pressure, not a mutual halt in hostilities. It's a pause in an assault, not a truce between equals. For over 45 years, Iran has endured a relentless campaign of economic
strangulation and covert operations, a legacy that began long before the current escalations. This includes incidents like the downing of Iran Air Flight 655 by the USS Vincennes in 1988, which killed 290 civilians, including 66 children. The US categorized this as an 'identifiable military misidentification,' yet awarded the captain of the Vincennes the Legion of Merit. The cost asymmetry is