Middle East Eye, March 3nd 2026
* Military force can destroy infrastructure and eliminate individuals, but it cannot extinguish national identity, religious conviction or historical memory. The lessons of 1953 still resonate. If history teaches anything, it is that interventions intended to secure stability often produce decades of unintended consequences.
* Both the US-Israeli military strikes on Iran in June 2025, and the attack in February 2026 occurred at moments when negotiations had achieved significant progress, according to Oman’s foreign minister.
* By officially declaring that its objective is regime collapse, the US framed the conflict as existential. Iran’s response is thus perceived domestically as a defence of national survival.
* The choice now is stark: continue down a path of open-ended confrontation, or halt the escalation and return to diplomacy – before the damage becomes irreversible
* It would be wiser for US President Donald Trump to push now for an immediate ceasefire, to prevent further catastrophe. The longer this conflict continues, the harder it will be to contain.
