The war on Iran did not begin in a vacuum. It began in Gaza. For nearly two years the world has watched Israel devastate Palestine, daily, with unprecedented violence. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed, entire cities flattened, and a people pushed to the edge of survival.
But the war industry did not stop there.
The United States and Israel launched a coordinated military assault on Iran on 28 February 2026. Within the first hours of the attack, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been assassinated, instantly transforming regional tensions into open war.
This gave the Shia world a 21st century Muslim martyr equal to the status of Imam Hussein Ibn Ali, reminding the community around the world about the ultimate sacrifice of Karbala and the battle against injustice. It appears that Trump does not even comprehend the depth of the consequences of this cultural and resistance symbolism, which will have global impacts.
Strategists across the world warned that attacking Iran would not remain a limited conflict within timelines that an ignorant U.S. war machinery was predicting.
They were absolutely right. The United States’ unilateral withdrawal from combat for five days, is a clear sign of the failure of their military strategy.
‘Axis of misery’
A quick glance through the U.S. propelled UN resolution condemning Iran for bombing their neighbours, is as clear as it can get about the damage Iran has caused on the ‘axis of evil’, forcing American allies to recall the existence of UNO.
“The war waged by the USA and Israel is another one in a long list of wars waged by them since the second half of the twentieth century. The distinction here is that it is run in the name of freedom and democracy but by autocrats,” commented political analyst, columnist and Southasia commentator Dr. Avinash Kumar.
Talking to Sapan News, he added that “this war is not limited to Iran or even the Gulf, but has already spanned across the globe directly hitting poor countries and the poor of the world.“
In that sense this may be the first global war of the 21st century. It is the direct victims who are paying the price, as well as those across the globe who are forced to go hungry or stand in queues for days to be able to cook one meal for their families.
Feminist writer Rita Manchanda in New Delhi, a researcher on the human rights impacts of militarisation, warns that such wars deepen existing structural violence across societies.
“This war is a lengthening axis of misery. But for India, it also is an opportunity to rebalance our ‘aligned’ hard realism foreign policy and in our own national interest to reclaim our humanitarian morality and soft power identity,” she told Sapan News.
“Militarisation does not remain confined to the battlefield,” she added. “It penetrates homes, economies and everyday life, intensifying insecurity and violence against civilians. Women and children bear the heaviest burdens of war — through displacement, hunger, sexual violence and the collapse of social protection systems. The expansion of militarism across West Asia today is therefore not only a geopolitical crisis but also a profound human and gender justice crisis.”
The U.S.–Israel assault and the scale of the war that has unfolded in less than two weeks has produced staggering numbers:
• More than 1,800 killed in Iran, many of them civilians.
• At least 175 schoolchildren and staff were killed in a single strike on a primary school in Minab.
• Over 2,000 people were killed across the wider Middle East theatre of the war.
The military campaign itself has been massive.
• Over 6,000 air and missile strikes carried out by the U.S. and Israel in Iran.
• More than 15,000 targets hit including military bases, infrastructure and urban areas.
Every region of Iran has experienced sustained bombing. Hospitals, schools, neighbourhoods and civilian infrastructure have repeatedly appeared destroyed in the aftermath of the strikes.
As if immersing West Asia into a possible nuclear war was not enough, America had the audacity to attack Iranian ships in the Indian Ocean, killing close to 100 marines in a non-war zone, off the Sri Lanka coast. And these ships had come to India, invited by the President of India to take part in a naval show by India, called ‘Milan’.
The war machinery and weapons used in the assault represent the most advanced military systems in the world.
U.S. and Israeli arsenal:
• B-2 stealth bombers
• F-35 and F-15 fighter jets
• Tomahawk cruise missiles
• Precision bunker-buster bombs
• Advanced drone fleets
• Carrier-based naval strike systems
This is the military power of the world’s largest empire and its closest regional ally.
Israel alone spends over USD 34 billion annually on defence, while Iran spends around USD 9 billion.
The imbalance is enormous. Yet, Iran has not collapsed.
Iran’s response
Iran responded with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and long-range drones targeting US military infrastructure across the Gulf. These were not random strikes. They were aimed primarily at the network of American bases built across West Asia over the last forty years.
Iranian missiles have struck installations in: Qatar, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE and Saudi Arabia, according to the US Department of Defense regional base network; and the Council on Foreign Relations backgrounders on U.S. bases in the Gulf.
The Al-Udeid air base in Qatar, the largest U.S. military base in the region, suffered damage to a radar system worth over USD 1.1 billion. In total, Iranian strikes have already caused nearly USD 1.9 billion in damage to U.S. military assets. Meanwhile, the war itself is costing Washington between USD 1–2 billion every single day, notes the US Congressional Budget Office estimates of regional military operations costs.
The war also exposes something rarely discussed in mainstream debates. The Middle East is one of the most militarised regions in the world.
The United States maintains a wide network of military installations across the Gulf and West Asia, hosting tens of thousands of troops and serving as hubs for air, naval and intelligence operations, according to the Congressional Research Service report on US military presence in the Middle East.
The United States maintains dozens of bases and tens of thousands of troops across West Asia, controlling strategic corridors of oil, shipping routes and regional politics.
For decades these bases have functioned as the backbone of American power projection. Now they have become targets and many, reduced to ashes. Iran has almost made sure to attack every possible American military and airforce base in the Gulf region and terrorise the neighbours about giving space and shelter to the USA.
Another war for oil
Behind the explosions lies one of the most important energy corridors on Earth.
“The Strait of Hormuz is the world’s most important oil transit chokepoint, with roughly one-fifth of global petroleum liquids consumption passing through it each day” to quote the U.S. Energy Information Administration, World Oil Transit Chokepoints.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow sea passage between Iran and Oman, is the single most critical artery of the global oil economy. Every day roughly 20 million barrels of oil pass through this tiny waterway. That is about 20% of the entire world’s oil supply.
Nearly one quarter of all seaborne oil trade and 20% of global LNG shipments also move through this corridor. And more than 85–90% of this energy is destined for Asian markets.
Which also means the countries most vulnerable are not Europe or America. They are India, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Japan, Thailand, South Korea and the rest of Asia.
When U.S.–Israeli bombing began, Iran warned that it could close or disrupt the Strait of Hormuz. Within days the maritime traffic collapsed. Insurance companies withdrew coverage. Hundreds of oil tankers began anchoring outside the strait rather than risk entering the war zone. Oil exports from several Gulf countries dropped sharply, and millions of barrels of crude supply disappeared from global markets overnight.
The result was immediate. Oil prices surged past $100 per barrel, according to the International Energy Association’s 12 March Oil Market Report and analysts warned prices could reach $150–200 if the disruption continues.
This is not just a market fluctuation. It is a global economic shock caused by an imposed war on Iran.
The ‘third world’ will pay the price.
The irony is brutal.
The countries that will suffer the most are not those launching the war. They are the countries of the Global South. Asia imports the overwhelming majority of oil moving through Hormuz.
For countries like India this means rising fuel and food prices, transport and electricity costs.
Because modern agriculture itself runs on fossil fuel based fertilisers, much of which also moves through the Gulf energy system, notes the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
A prolonged disruption could therefore trigger both an energy crisis and a food crisis across large parts of the developing world.
India feels the shock
India imports around 85% of the oil it consumes, much of it from the Gulf, according to the Government of India’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell.
Nearly half of Southasia’s crude oil imports pass through the Strait of Hormuz. When this route becomes unstable, the consequences reach everyday life of Indians immediately.
Fuel prices rise. Cooking gas becomes scarce. Transport costs increase. And small businesses suffer first. Across several Indian cities, restaurants and small eateries have already begun shutting down with the sharp rise in liquefied petroleum gas
cylinder prices and the scarcity of cooking gas. This is the first sign of what a prolonged war economy could look like.
What makes the situation even more tragic is that much of this suffering was avoidable. Instead of demanding peace, diplomacy and restraint, many governments have chosen silence or worse alignment with the dominant Western narrative.
Countries like India, which historically championed non-alignment and anti-colonial solidarity, have failed to take an independent stand against the escalation.
If powerful states can assassinate the leader of a sovereign country and launch thousands of airstrikes, what remains of the international order? Would India have remained silent if Netanyahu and Trump were to assassinate our leader and launch a war on our motherland?
The result is predictable. The war decisions are taken in Washington, D.C. and Tel Aviv. But the economic consequences are paid in Delhi, Nairobi, Colombo, Dhaka, Jakarta, Bangkok, São Paulo, etc.
This war is not only about Iran. It is about control of West Asia’s energy resources. It is about preserving a geopolitical order built around military dominance, oil routes and strategic choke points. And it is about ensuring that the question of Palestine never destabilises that order.
Annie Raja, Vice President of National Federation of Indian Women and Central Committee member of Communist Party of India, situates the war within a broader anti-imperialist struggle for peace and justice.
“The women’s movement in Southasia has long recognised that imperial wars are fought in the name of security but paid for with the lives of ordinary people, especially of women and children,” she notes.
Talking to Sapan News in Delhi, she observed that from Palestine to Iran, “what we are witnessing is the continuation of an imperial project that thrives on militarism, war industry, exploitative trade and occupation. The struggle for peace in our region must therefore also be a struggle against imperialism, war economies and the political silence that allows them to continue.”
South Asians for Human Rights issued a statement on 10 February urging governments to take decisive action against Gaza violence, condemn rights violations, and support Palestinian justice and accountability.
“We urge all South Asian governments to consider joining The Hague Group and to support the directives of the ICC and International Court of Justice in relation to Israel’s actions on Gaza,” said the statement.
It is also about distracting Americans and the world from the Epstein files and the criminal paedophiles. History repeatedly shows that wars meant to secure an empire often produce the opposite. They ignite resistance. They further religious fundamentalism and martyr iconisation. They destabilise entire regions. And they expose the fragility of a global system built on war, oil and power.
(This is a Sapan News syndicated feature available for republication with due credit https://www.sapannews.com.)