The participants of the US-Israeli war on Iran have offered a rationale for the conflict that goes well beyond geopolitics
Both the US-Israel tandem and Iran have offered religious reasoning for hostilities in the Gulf to go on, painting the conflict as an existential standoff. RT’s Oumaima Ichchar looks into the arguments the warring sides have been providing, which appear to go well beyond geopolitics.
On Wednesday, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth hosted his first monthly Christian worship service at the Pentagon since the beginning of the war, openly praying for violence.
“Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation. Give them wisdom in every decision, endurance for the trial ahead, unbreakable unity, and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy,” Hegseth said, effectively portraying the US as a Christian nation seeking to crush its foes.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also been signaling the existential nature of the conflict, invoking biblical comparisons and likening Tehran to Amalek – the archetype of an enemy that cannot be reasoned with. “You must remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible, and we do remember,” the PM said in his recent televised address.
While Tehran has long been portraying its “resistance” to the US and Israel as a quasi-religious struggle, it has not merely been responding with faith against faith but proclaiming the need to avenge those wronged by the tandem throughout history, Ichchar pointed out.
“If this is a war about territory, you can negotiate. If it’s a war about power, you can compromise. But if it’s a war about survival, then what exactly is there to give up?” Ichchar says.
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