Turning Point or World War?

Iran’s war and the end of the old order

Karl Richter on the Gulf War that could end the unipolar age.

After nearly two weeks of war in the Persian Gulf, Iran appears to have won a victory on points. It could alter the international order more profoundly than the rupture of the coronavirus pandemic and four years of war in Ukraine.

It can only be described as a sensation, both militarily and politically: rarely has a war plan collapsed so spectacularly as the attempt by the U.S.–Israeli alliance to force Iran rapidly to its knees. On the contrary, the Islamic Republic—although subjected to the most severe terrorist attacks—has not collapsed but has preserved its ability to carry out painful retaliatory strikes that are causing increasing and completely unanticipated losses for the attackers. These losses are certainly far higher than the official figures suggest. The U.S. military infrastructure in the region—radar stations and bases—has been severely hit.

One piece of the puzzle is provided by the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. The facility, which normally also cares for the roughly 40,000 American service members and their families in the Kaiserslautern region, has in recent days closed its maternity ward. Pregnant women are being asked to seek care in surrounding clinics. The urgency was so great that even scheduled cesarean sections were relocated. A memo from the hospital administration, cited by the military newspaper Stars and Stripes, justified the step by referring to the “hospital’s primary objective”: Landstuhl serves as a “critical hub and evacuation point for U.S. service members wounded in training or combat operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.” Apparently, there are many of them. The official figures are clearly sanitized. A planned blood-donation campaign within the Kaiserslautern military community was also moved forward—another indication.

As far as Israel is concerned, the situation may be even worse. Russian intelligence has compiled a damage assessment according to which Israel suffered catastrophic and irreversible losses during the first 72 hours of the war as a result of Iranian retaliatory strikes. According to the leaked Russian evaluation, Israel lost its “operational access” to the nuclear reactor in Dimona, the centerpiece of the Israeli nuclear program. Eleven top nuclear scientists are said to have been killed; additionally, attacks on other targets allegedly killed six high-ranking IDF generals, 198 Air Force officers—including senior pilots—and an entire command staff. Furthermore, 462 soldiers are said to have been killed on the ground and at various military bases. Naturally, these claims cannot be independently verified.

What is undisputed, however, is that the nuclear and military power Israel—long regarded as invincible—has not suffered comparable losses in any other military operation in recent decades. This turn of events is an unprecedented portent.

Politically, it is also a powerful signal. Thanks to its successful resistance, Iran is suddenly gaining stature not only militarily but politically as well, emerging as a sovereign actor. Unlike the U.S. administration, which so far has been unable to formulate even a single rational objective for its war of terror, the Iranian leadership, after barely two weeks of conflict, has attracted attention with two explosive war aims that point far beyond the current exchange of blows. In an interview with the news agency Fars, the Deputy Commander of the Navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Brigadier General Mohammad Akbarzadeh, declared: “The establishment of an independent Palestinian state and the permanent closure of American bases [in the region] will be among Iran’s most important regional objectives.”

In the midst of war, Tehran thus declares itself the protector of the Palestinians, which—beyond the already increased solidarity from many Muslims—will likely bring the country additional support in the Arab world. At the same time, the blocking of the vital Strait of Hormuz is placing the global economy—and above all Trump’s rule—under considerable pressure. Already, the Arab allies, who cannot be effectively protected by Uncle Sam, are threatening to withdraw billions of dollars in investments from the United States, something that will hardly be welcomed within Trump’s capital-rich circles of supporters. The midterm elections in November threaten to explode in his face. And with every liter of oil that is no longer paid for in dollars, U.S. global hegemony comes under greater strain. The sinking of an aircraft carrier would be the icing on the cake and the ultimate humiliation.

All of this marks a genuine turning point and could lead in the near future to dramatic changes on the international stage. Of all countries, Iran—long the pariah of the Western world order—could become its catalyst. Karma is a bitch.

“It is Iran that will decide the fate of the Zionist puppet regime and the United States,” Vice Admiral Akbarzadeh declared in the Fars interview. Even Western observers can no longer dismiss this outright as mere boasting. None other than former U.S. intelligence officer and UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter recently predicted in a conversation with the independent portal India & Global Left a strategic defeat for the United States and Israel: Iran, he said, is on the best path to winning the war.

Events have reached a point of culmination. Suddenly, for the first time since 1945, the world order erected by the West—the Epstein order of murderers, perverts, and Satanists—is being challenged. At present, Iran is fighting the battle on behalf of all those who seek liberation from it—also on behalf of Russia, China, and all others who wish to live in freedom and dignity. Whether some like it or not, Iran is the spearhead in the struggle against the Antichrist.

Given the situation, the answer of the Great Satan could only be a nuclear bomb. Its global rule, nearly complete, is at stake. In Washington and Tel Aviv, madmen like Pete Hegseth hold sway—men who need world war and long for it as God’s work. They would sacrifice entire peoples upon their altar of fire. We will see what comes next.

(Translated from the German)