One month into the Iran war: no end to escalation?
One month after the US-Israeli attack on Iran and still no peace in sight. Pakistan's government may have announced that it is ready to host talks between Washington and Tehran. Yet media reports say that the US is preparing to send in ground troops. In a further twist, the Houthis in Yemen have also declared war and fired rockets at Israel.
Excursion to hell
El Periódico de Catalunya sees a new world war brewing:
“The excursion that Donald Trump so frivolously mentioned leads straight to hell. ... The entry into the conflict of Yemen's Houthi rebels is expanding the battlefield. ... From Yemen, it is possible to block another strategic strait vital to the global economy, namely the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb, at the gateway to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, and this in turn would drag Saudi Arabia into the conflict. ... The situation remains unchanged as regards the ability of the US and Israel to win a battle, but they will have to send in their soldiers to risk their lives on the ground. ... If the US fails to secure a ceasefire in the negotiations beginning in Pakistan, what we face is the potential for this to escalate into a new world war.”
Disaster in the waiting
The Guardian also looks in horror at the unfolding events:
“It's incredible to think that after all the mortal agony and anguish of Iraq and Afghanistan, a US president is once again seriously contemplating boots on the ground in the Middle East. It's even more amazing the president concerned is Trump, a noisy critic of costly foreign adventures. ... Negotiations, unconditional on both sides, are the only sane way out. Trump must swallow his pride, admit his error, eat humble pie. Yet as all the world knows, the very idea that this most ignorant, reckless and narcissistic of US leaders might actually do so is utterly ridiculous.The second Trump presidency was always going to end in disaster. Now it's happening.”
Enormous potential for a blockade
The analyst Radu Carp writes on Contributors:
“With the intervention of the Houthi militia and a potential blockade of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Iran is proving that it is capable of threatening both ends of the Arabian Peninsula's sea route and thereby blocking a large proportion of global trade in energy resources. Iran is not acting alone here, but is in close coordination with Russia and China. After all, Iran's blockade is a boon to Russia, which has generated unexpectedly high revenues from oil sales. .. China, too, is continuing to profit from Iranian crude oil and owns huge reserves that put it at a huge advantage over Western states. It is certainly no coincidence that the toll the Revolutionary Guard is exacting from ships wanting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz must be paid in Chinese yuan.”
Tehran’s regional network activated
The Houthi militia's intervention is fundamentally changing the war, warns La Stampa:
“This is not simply another front; it is a structural shift. The US-Israeli war against Iran is expanding and branching out, evolving into a system of interconnected crises. ... The Houthis’ decision marks one of the most significant escalations since the war began. Not only because it expands the area of operations, but also because it confirms a deeper dynamic: the progressive activation of Iran’s regional network. Following Hezbollah and the Iraqi militias, Yemen, too, is now fully integrated into its sphere of influence.”
Who would want to help this man?
Trump is paying the price for being Trump, so goes the Berlingske headline, recalling the Greenland crisis:
“The US President’s threats against a NATO member have deeply scarred America's allies. The US is finding that these allies are no longer rushing to its aid as they once did. ... This has led Trump to accuse the other NATO member states of letting America down – but the truth is that the lukewarm reaction has more to do with the man than with the nation. It’s not the US that lacks support. It's Trump.”