IRAN’S Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said that there was no “agreement” on any ceasefire between Israel and his country but President Donald Trump announced late on Monday that a ceasefire has been agreed between the warring parties.
“It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE… for 12 hours, at which point the War will be considered, ENDED!,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. The statement came hours after he urged Iran to seek peace with Israel, saying he did not expect further retaliation from Tehran following its missile attack on a US base in Qatar. “Congratulations world—it’s time for peace’, President Donald Trump said.
The cautious remarks of the Iranian Foreign Minister, who gave a deadline for cessation of illegal aggression against Iranian people by the Jewish State, are understandable and reflected lack of confidence in what the US President says in view of glaring contradictions in his statements and actions from the very beginning of the conflict. To quote the latest example, the US officially announced it will take a decision on joining the Iran-Israel war in two weeks but dropped bombs on Iranian nuclear sites within hours. In fact, the way the conflict unfolded, the world witnessed tit-for-tat responses and finally an understanding to bring the hostilities to an end conveyed a clear message that the three parties to the conflict — Iran, Israel and the United States — were afforded facing saving opportunities in stark contrast to the original designs of the aggressors to bring Iran to its knees through the brutal use of military force. After experiencing a bitter taste of their misadventure, the planners of the war first retracted from the goal of regime change in Iran and then fled from the battle front on the plea they achieved their objective of obliterating Iranian nuclear programme whereas independent reports suggested there was minimal damage to the Iranian nuclear sites and that the country safely evacuated enriched Uranium ahead of penetrating strikes by B-2 bombers. Credible reports also suggest that the attempts to impose a military solution to the Iranian nuclear programme have backfired and its fate, as before, will be determined by the Iranian leadership. This means the world was pushed to the brink of a disaster merely because of the adventurism of the Jewish state and its backer, the United States. The Government and people of Iran deserve appreciation for valiantly defending their motherland in the face of malicious designs of their enemies, who had clear technological advantages. However, as in the case of Pakistan, Iranians too demonstrated to the world that it is the will of the people that matters much in such conflicts. Iranians broke the Israeli myth of invincibility and made the aggressor to lick its wounds because of unity and steadfastness. Israel felt encouraged to initiate a war against Iran because of the killing of over fifty-six thousand innocent and defenceless Palestinians but learnt the lesson in a few days of war with Iran. The reaction of the civilized world to the aggression of Israel and its total support by the United States also seemed to have influenced the decision-makers in Washington and Tel Aviv, who are now looking for ways and means for damage control both internally and globally. Anyhow, the cessation of hostilities will augur well for not only regional peace and security but also global economy, which had started to witness severe shocks in terms of hiked oil prices and disruption of supplies (more so in the case of planned closure of Strait of Hormuz). The terms of the ceasefire are not yet clear but talks must be held on sovereign equality basis and Iran will be justified if it linked its nuclear programme to that of Israel because of proven hostilities of the Jewish state. Pakistan-India and Iran-Israel wars should serve as a lesson for the Islamic world that there was no future for militarily weak nations. They must plan individually and collectively to bolster their defence in a world that has become a global jungle as far as rule of law is concerned.
