“We see connivence, cravenness and complicity from US allies and satellite states who are so afraid to mention that this was an illegal strike that took place on February 28th and the war taking place in Iran now is an illegal operation”  Binoy Kampmark 

On February 28 President Trump posted a statement in the form of an 8-minute video on Truth Social. He declared the objective of the on Iran was “to defend the American people by eliminating threats from the Iranian regime.” This was unsettling given the previous US-Israeli attacks in June 2025 had apparently “obliterated the regimes’s nuclear program at Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan.” Trump maintains efforts were (supposedly) made on his part to seek a deal to prevent Iran ever pursuing nuclear weapons. “We tried. They wanted to do it. They didn’t want to do it. Again they wanted to.” Through the haze of confusion, Trump reasoned that Tehran had, after all, decided to “rebuild their nuclear program and to continue developing long range missiles that can now threaten our very good friends and allies in Europe, our troops stationed overseas, and could soon reach the American homeland.” Their missile industry would be razed, the navy annihilated, the proxies crippled. Members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard would receive total immunity if they laid down their weapons, “or you will face certain death.” As for the unspecified “great proud people of Iran”, they should stay sheltered as the bombing continued.  When done, the government “will be yours to take”.

Since that February 28 statement not only has confusion reigned but the state of our world has been thrown into chaos. There will, no doubt, be some cheer within Iran at these strikes, notably from the young who have suffered at the hands of a clerical, authoritarian regime. Washington’s allies will snivel with coerced approval citing the brutality of Iran’s regime while ignoring breaches of international law they are condoning. (Australia’s response was particularly despicable.) The Shia-Sunni division will be tested, with various US bases and military assets already struck in the Gulf States by a regime trying to survive. The United Nations will continue being treated like a bed-ridden dowager whose influence was from another day, conduct more contemptible even than 2003 when many Western states did, at the very least, show solidarity in rejecting the use of force by the United States and its allies in the absence of a Security Council resolution. In the meantime, American diplomats who open their frontier-stretched mouths claiming interest for peace and negotiations should make everyone reach for the gun. To help us better understand exactly what has happened and what we can expect we called upon the considerable expertise of learned scholar, Dr. Binoy Kampmark. Are we living through a real-time version of Wag The Dog? What does the rest of the world understand to be happening, including Russia and China? Does the Trump administration have a clear understanding of their objectives? We posed these and more question to Binoy who as always responded with articulate and studious explanations. 

Portions of this piece are courtesy of Binoy Kampmark’s latest column in CounterPunch

Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia