• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Trending:
  • Kashmir
  • Elections
Monday, July 14, 2025

Daily Times

Your right to know

  • HOME
  • Latest
  • Iran-Israel Tensions
  • Pakistan
    • Balochistan
    • Gilgit Baltistan
    • Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
    • Punjab
    • Sindh
  • World
  • Editorials & Opinions
    • Editorials
    • Op-Eds
    • Commentary / Insight
    • Perspectives
    • Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Featured
    • Blogs
      • Pakistan
      • World
      • Ramblings
      • Lifestyle
      • Culture
      • Sports
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle
  • E-PAPER
    • Lahore
    • Islamabad
    • Karachi
Mashhood Hassan Azam Awan

Mashhood Hassan Azam Awan

The author of this article is a lawyer and partner at UMR Practice

US-Iran tensions: the myth and reality

The United States under President Donald Trump appears adamant to act like the sole stalwart it once was despite the fact and the awareness that the world is no longer unipolar. Radical changes have swept the globe over the last decade and a half.

Given the current situation on the global chessboard, the US narrative sounds like a paradox.

The end of the Cold War era had allowed the US to proclaim victory and end to the bipolar world following the fall of the Soviet Union.

However, this was a transient phase. Some people in the US might not have believed that its status as the soul superpower would be so short-lived. But that is exactly what has come to pass.

China and Russia have emerged strong and are increasingly a threat to its hegemony. In an increasingly interdependent world, it is very hard for any power to isolate or permanently dominate others.

In pursuit of its strategic interests, the US has always been willing to cause disaster around the world. The case of Afghanistan in 1979-89 and more recently of Syria and Iraq needs no comment. Its Israel-centric policy in the Middle East has long been a destabilising factor in that region.

Some argue that the United States is laying down the framework of a future policy to disturb regional peace to halt progress on CPEC

There is speculation that after its disgraceful withdrawal from Afghanistan and the lack of a decisive victory in Syria, the US is going to attack Iran.

Some argue that the US is laying down the framework for a future policy with a view to disturb regional peace to halt progress on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

The US-led military coalition has been defeated in Afghanistan. Has the US learnt anything from it? Nobody knows for sure what is in store for the US in the aftermath of withdrawal from Afghanistan.

It appears that the withdrawal is inevitable, whether it will be honourable is still indefinite.

Its close engagement with Israel is one of the reasons for US problems in the Middle East.

The US also faces an image problem around the globe.

Syria and Iran are currently the only two countries seen as a threat to Israel. The US intervention in Syria has destroyed that country but not resulted in a regime change it had declared as its objective.

US designs for Iraq too have proved to a failure in material respects. Most significantly, Iraq today appears unwilling to go to war against Iran.

The burning question today is whether US can declare a war against Iran or not. Iran does not resemble Afghanistan or Vietnam. The Iran of Raza Shah Pahlavi is a distant memory.

There is a view that the deployment of US forces is meant only to pressure Iran and that a war is not planned.

Iran has so far stood its ground and refused to be dictated. Should Iran so wish, the Strait of Hormuz may become unsafe for oil trade thereby affecting almost every oil-importing economy.

The US might as well exercise restraint. But a miscalculation by either side may prove devastating for the world peace in general and for Asia in particular.

Also, the US might surprise everybody and take a U-turn as it did on North Korea.

The international community must rise to the occasion to defuse the tension.

The hope is that sanity prevails on both sides.

Pakistan should play its role to help deescalate the tensions.

The writer, an Islamabad-based lawyer, is a partner at UMR Practice

Filed Under: Commentary / Insight Tagged With: editorspick

Submit a Comment




Primary Sidebar




Latest News

FESCO extends electricity bill payment deadline by seven days

Jaishankar urges China to ease border tensions, end trade curbs

FBR launches easy digital tax returns for salaried class from july 15

Over 100 dead, including 53 children, in monsoon rains across Pakistan

Kareena Kapoor follows same diet plan for 18 years straight

Pakistan

FESCO extends electricity bill payment deadline by seven days

FBR launches easy digital tax returns for salaried class from july 15

Over 100 dead, including 53 children, in monsoon rains across Pakistan

Cloudburst hits Hyderabad: Torrential rains flood low-lying areas

Fazl-ur-Rehman criticizes state institutions over inaction against terrorism

More Posts from this Category

Business

Interest rate may drop soon, but SBP holds the key: Aurangzeb

Gold price jumps by Rs1,600 per tola in Pakistan

FBR to suspend terminal operators over poor infrastructure and IT compliance

FBR’s new property valuation rule sparks concerns among taxpayers and real estate experts

Bitcoin breaks $120,000 barrier amid hopes for US crypto policy reforms

More Posts from this Category

World

Jaishankar urges China to ease border tensions, end trade curbs

Zelenskyy urges stronger U.S. support as Russia steps up attacks

Trump promises air defense boost for Ukraine, calls Putin’s bluff

More Posts from this Category




Footer

Home
Lead Stories
Latest News
Editor’s Picks

Culture
Life & Style
Featured
Videos

Editorials
OP-EDS
Commentary
Advertise

Cartoons
Letters
Blogs
Privacy Policy

Contact
Company’s Financials
Investor Information
Terms & Conditions

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Youtube

© 2025 Daily Times. All rights reserved.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.