On Friday, Feb. 28, 2026, the government of Donald Trump, along with the Zionist entity, launched a full-scale military assault on Iran. Trump indicated that, as he did during the so-called 12-day war in June 2025, the attack aimed at killing top Iranian leaders.
This time, the targets included Iran’s “supreme leader” — as the expression is translated in the West — Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The 86-year-old was the religious leader of Shia Islam based in Iran, and other Muslims respected him as well. Millions of Iranians were outraged, as millions of Catholics and other Christians would be if a powerful nation bombed the Vatican to kill the pope. A U.S. airstrike on a girls’ elementary school killed, according to one estimate, almost 170 people, mostly schoolgirls. A brilliant example of U.S. military technology and power!?!
In addition to joining the assault, the Zionist entity has gone even further. It launched a massive attack on Lebanon, intending to drive out all Arab people from the southern part of the country. If that isn’t enough, it tightened its food blockade against Gaza, escalating the genocide, while the assault on Iran diverts the attention of the world. The war on Iran raises many questions, including the relationship between the Zionist entity, the so-called State of Israel, and the U.S.-NATO world empire.
Great analysis on the Iran situation as always, Sam.
I largely agree with you that one of the motivating factors is to dent China’s growth but isn’t one of the key lessons of this entire debacle that the global economy is so intricately integrated now that the US is structurally incapable of destabilizing global production without also severely destabilizing itself and its increasingly frustrated allies? The United States can’t even commit to a boots on the ground invasion of a middle power like Iran – it would be enormously expensive, incredibly bloody and deeply unpopular domestically, not to mention the implications for the stability of global and domestic markets – let alone take on a country on the scale of China. And this prospect will only continue to become more untenable as China develops over the coming decade.
Sure, proxy skirmishes are almost certain to continue but the US does not possess the industrial capacity nor the domestic will to enter into a protracted and direct conflict with China and any attempt to do so will only damage themselves further given how reliant they currently are, and will continue to be, on the Chinese supply chain for their high-end manufacturing and weapons production.
It seems much more likely that Iran ends this conflict in a significantly stronger geopolitical position relative to other Gulf States – who are also growing deeply sceptical of US and Israel’s commitment to their domestic security – and, what’s more, without any further qualms about developing nuclear weapon capabilities (the decapitation strikes by the US and Israel has now ironically ensured the absolutely necessity of this pursuit). Meanwhile, China will continue to accelerate its economy away from reliance on fossil fuels.
To me, this question of energy – fossil fuels versus renewables – is the fundamental qualitative global shift that is driving much of the geopolitical manoeuvring we’re currently seeing. This may be the last chance to stop China from out-developing the United States but, frankly, it seem entirely too late. The US can’t hurt China without also hurting itself.