GOANS in the Gulf will be among the victims of the ongoing war between the United States and Iran. It is estimated that there are almost 20 lakh Indians spread in the Middle East in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain. Besides Goans, the largest number of Indians in the Gulf is from Kerala. The original war between Israel and the militants in Gaza has now escalated into a war that could engulf the whole of the Middle East. Ranging from the United Arab Emirates, comprising Dubai and Sharjah, to Kuwait to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, and Iraq.
Iran is faced with no option but to target the American bases in the Middle East. Indeed, the headquarters of the fleet, Number 5 of the US Navy, is in Bahrain. The United States also has military installations in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE. The American armed presence in the Middle East goes back to the Desert Storm launch by the United States when the Iraqi dictator Sadam Husain attacked Kuwait. The United States went to the defense of Kuwait on the invitation of Kuwait and the UAE.
TRUMP WELCOME!
IN fact, recently, Donald Trump was welcomed and hosted in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Saudi Arabia placed a huge order for the Boeing passenger aircraft. Iran will find it difficult to retaliate directly against the United States, which is 11,000 km away from Iran. But Iran can easily target American military bases in the Gulf and the Middle East. Even though the Middle East countries are all Muslim countries, they have sought the protection of the United States against Iran and Iraq, the two largest Muslim states in the Middle East. While Iraq is Sunni, Iran is hardcore Shia who are historically committed to a very harsh form of fundamentalist Islam. Iran has developed a reputation of extending protection and even promoting terrorism around the world. It is no secret that Iran has been supporting militant group Hamas which has been targeting Israel and is very active in Gaza.
Perhaps it would be relevant to trace the history of the Middle East. It is widely known that the current state of Israel was carved out of essentially Arab settlements to fulfill the desire of the Jews for their own homeland country. Israel has not been satisfied with the land it has been provided and has been encroaching steadily into neighboring Palestine land. The Gaza strip is a buffer zone between Israel and Palestine, which is inhabited by Arab tribes.
IRAN was earlier ruled by Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi who was the last king of Iran. The Shah regime which was very close to the United States was toppled by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on January 16, 1979. The revolutionary forces appointed the Ayatollah as the supreme leader of Iran. This led to the formation of the Islamic Republic of Iran in April 1979, ending 2,500 years of monarchy. The Ayatollah promptly introduced the Sharia law in Iran which is the basis for its constitution.
SHARIAT LAWS
THE Ayatollah holds the ultimate religious and political authority in Iran. In keeping with the extreme Shariat laws, there’s severe punishment for theft, adultery and any insult to Allah. Iran still practices the stoning of women for adultery. The Sharait law is based on the principles of Hudud (fixed punishments), the Qisas (based on an eye for an eye which means that in the case of murder a relative of the accused can be punished). There is also the concept of “diya” which stipulates blood money or compensation in exchange for punishment. All the marriage divorce and inheritance laws are strictly based on the Shariat. In Iran men can have up to four wives and women need permission to divorce. The dress code of the hijab is strictly enforced. Conversion from Islam into any other religion is punishable by death.
But it is not the Sharait law enforced by the Islamic Republic that is the provocation for the US attack on Iran. The attack on Iran has been instigated by Israel. Donald Trump has the support of the very influential and very Jewish community in the United States. The US and even more so Israel is very concerned about the nuclear program of Iran. It has been claimed that Iraq has the capacity to manufacture nuclear weapons. It is also claimed that Iraq has the large stock of nuclear weapons which could be used to destroy Israel.
The United States claimed that the target of Midnight Hammer has been limited to the nuclear facilities in Iran. The United States for the first time used its fleet of B-2 stealth bombers which can fly up to 11,000 km without refueling. The B-2 bomber aircraft fly so high that they cannot be detected by the enemy country. So much so the Iranian air defense forces could not even detect the B-2 bomber let alone intercept it. The bombers dropped bunker busters which are very powerful bombs with the weight of 13,600 kg which can be remotely guided to the target.
NUCLEAR FACILITY DESTROYED
NOW the US has claimed that it has destroyed Iran’s nuclear enrichment facility. Earlier Israel had claimed that it had killed the top nuclear scientist in Iran. The US and Israel are working together to neutralize the threat of nuclear attack by Iran against Israel.
The Middle East countries who are primarily Islamic have a difficult problem. As Islamic states they have a lot of sympathy for Iran. But they are also feel threatened by Iran which is a hardline Shia state. In fact, even the minority Sunni community within Iran has been harassed by the Ayatollahs. Iran has fought many wars against the Sunni regime in Iraq. The emirs of Saudi Arabia and Qatar who hosted Trump recently have condemned the attack on the sisterly Islamic Republic of Iran. China and Russia are also condemned their attack.
The fear is that the entry of the US and the strike against the nuclear facilities in Iran may spark off a third world war. Iran Afghanistan and Pakistan and perhaps now Bangladesh are the only Islamic countries which officially follow the Sharait law. Many western countries are concerned about the rising Muslim fundamentalism which has claimed many lives in terror attacks in Europe. It may be recalled that the editor and the staff of a cartoon weekly in France were attacked and killed for publishing a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad. This has led to Islamophobia (fear and anger with so many Muslim migrants settled in Europe and the UK, many of them radical Islamist groups). The charge is while enjoying all the benefit of democracy in a country of Western civilization, the migrating Muslims worldwide do not accept the secular laws of the countries that they live in. A similar charge has been made on Indian Muslims by the BJP.
The big fear is that if not a third world war that could be sharp increase in terror attacks. The primary target now could be the United States. Already American civilian aircraft are on alert for hijackings and other terror attacks. There is a strong possibility that the ongoing conflict in the Middle East could turn into yet another age old clash between the Christian and Islamic civilizations. The US cannot afford to ignore the threat of a strike back by Iran. There is a possibility that all Islamic countries may come together to take on Donald Trump’s United States.