An unwarranted war

US-Israel combined strikes on Iran on Feb 28 that led to the death of Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several others, including the country’s Defence Minister and IRGC commanders, has neither the approval of US Congress nor the United Nations. Several US lawmakers questioned the legality of President Trump’s war on Iran. It sets back severely the progress made on international humanitarian law since the end of World War II and puts forth an argument for resorting to the jungle law that – might is right.
There is also a question of whose war it is -  many analysts believe it was primarily Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu who during the six trips that he had made to Washington into Trump’s second term since Jan 2025 managed to convince the American President to carry out what is mainly Israeli agenda in Iran which is regime change. There is nothing secret about it. Netanyahu has been saying that it was his dream for 40 years to change the Iranian regime. Many of the Gulf States believe that Israel wants to be a regional hegemon by obliterating any challenge - previously from Hamas in Gaza, Hizbollah in Lebanon and -  now Iran.
As for President Trump, the objective of current war keeps altering everyday like the day’s temperature. If one day it is regime change, next day it is eliminating nuclear threat from Iran and then further on it is that US had to strike Iran to pre-empt it from launching attacks on US! Under sanctions for decades, with armed prowess of its proxies Hamas and Hezbollah severely degraded, Tehran was hardly in a position to pose any significant threat to the US except the oral harangues during Friday sermons. Specifically on nuclear threat posed by Iran, Mr Rafael Mariano Grossi, DG IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) who has oversight powers on Iranian nuclear program said as recently as on March 8 that there was no evidence that Iran was currently making a nuclear bomb. Seen in this backdrop, the arguments of US to justify Iran strikes at the current juncture lack convincing logic.
There is no doubt that Israel has developed huge capabilities both in intelligence and military technology ever since its inception in 1948 to keep at bay the perceived threats from Palestinian groups and the neighbouring Arab countries. And it has mastered these capabilities by targeting Palestinian groups both in West Bank and Gaza for years. But the question is whether it has achieved the much sought after objective of “peace” for its citizens or peace in the neighbourhood. 
Regarding Iran, Israel knows very well that Tehran doesn’t have the capabilities to threaten Tel Aviv’s existence. This gives credence to the argument that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is using the current situation to strengthen his own position domestically. In the current conflict, Israel is firing from US shoulders. It has provided all the intelligence and President Trump and other leaders of his administration were persuaded to take up this so called once in life time opportunity for a regime change in Iran and go down in history. No American President since Jimmy Carter after 1979 revolution in Iran could achieve this feat. PM Netanyahu succeeded by stoking the vanity of President Trump. Their claim that Iran is on the verge of going nuclear has to be taken with a bag of salt. Remember, similar claims were made of Saddam Hussein as well before invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Trump says Iran is a terrorist country. If at all, it’s not Iran but Pakistan that fits the description to the T and should have been the target of US - Israel if they were really interested in fighting terrorism.
Even for those reformists in Iran, who have been resisting the hardliner regime for decades, who have spent years behind the bars for speaking up, these events are not welcome. One reformist leader said they were both happy and sad – happy because the hardliners who humiliated the reformists for years are themselves being humiliated now and sad to see the massive destruction of their country and the price that the ordinary Iranians had to pay.
As for the rest of the world the ripples of the war have been felt in many ways but the most significant impact has been the in terms of rise of crude oil prices. Many countries have resorted to curtailing consumption, hiking prices of oil products, and a return to work-from-home to battle the shortages. They are also trying to ensure the safety of their  citizens in the Gulf countries and making efforts to evacuate to them to safer places.
From all these perspectives it is very difficult to reach any logical conclusion as to whose interests are being served in the current conflict. It has to end immediately to contain any further destabilizing effects in the region as well as the rest of the world.    
 (An expert)