The world is reeling under an unprecedented fuel and gas crisis. The prevailing situation is creating panic in domestic kitchens, restaurants, hostels, petrol bunks, gas stations and threatening to cripple the world economy, while worse is yet to come. All this because of a thoughtless, one-sided and hegemonistic war against Iran begun by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Their personal arrogance, lack of foresight and poor planning are causing tremendous hardships across the globe. Strategists have long held that an attack on Iran could lead to a retaliatory closure of the strategic Strait of Hormuz by Tehran. This narrow waterway sees 20 per cent of global oil and gas production pass through it. The White House’s apparent failure to factor in this obvious tit-for-tat counter-strategy by Iran since the outbreak of the war on 28 February, even though there was no imminent threat, is the most surprising. Both the US and Israeli intelligence have egg on their faces because they had absolutely no idea what Iran was prepared for.
It is only when the situation spiralled out of control that Trump made an appeal on 14 March to countries including the UK, France, Italy, Japan and also China to assist the US in ensuring freedom of navigation in the strait. Even in this endeavour, the US President betrayed muddled thinking since once he said he wanted them to bail him out of the mess and then asserted he did not need them at all. His final salvo against these age-old and time-tested allies was couched in the most undiplomatic language as he called them “cowards”. The mistrust with which the European allies greeted Trump’s frantic appeal was only natural and perfectly justified. It is clearly understood by all that participating in this exercise would risk dragging these countries into a war that was not of their making. India, sadly, has fallen into a neat trap by supporting Israel just before the commencement of hostilities. Now, when India is ‘condemning’ attacks on critical infrastructure in the Middle East, it is unclear whether we mean Iran or all the other countries Tehran is hitting out with waves of rockets and drones. The unfortunate allies of the US, including Israel, are now clueless as to what on earth Iran is capable of doing to their fancy countries and their well-cultivated images of being the safest countries for the global rich and powerful.
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In fact, Netanyahu and Trump have brought death and destruction to Asia in particular and economic havoc on the whole world by launching an ill-conceived, ill-planned and unnecessary war on Iran. Twenty-three days after their first strikes, Iran is yet to be vanquished as per US-Israeli calculations. Far from being the loser, Iran continues to fire an unending barrage of missiles and drones at Israel and neighbouring Persian Gulf countries hosting US bases. To make matters worse, Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz and kept launching retaliatory strikes on oil and gas facilities in the Gulf countries. This has escalated energy prices, threatening the global economy. Oil prices are not known to increase incrementally but double and quadruple.
There is no denying the fact that Trump alone is responsible for the rebuff of his European allies to get drawn into the war by strengthening his hands. He has antagonised them through his hot-headed actions of punitive tariffs and expressing his desire to reestablish ties with Moscow at Ukraine’s expense, not to mention threats to annex Greenland. He did not even approach or consult them beforehand regarding the decision to launch a war against Iran. He had done the same thing during the US-Israeli offensive in June 2025 targeting Iran’s nuclear programme, which Washington claimed, without evidence, had been destroyed. Trump and Netanyahu must deal with the economic and geopolitical consequences that they created and dumped on the world at large.
The unimaginable transatlantic rift is all the more to be pitied since Washington and the main European capitals have long been on the same page on Iran’s nuclear programme, the regime’s ballistic missile capabilities and its use of militias loyal to Tehran, including Hezbollah. At the same time, they were all equally horrified by the ruthless crackdown on the most recent Iranian uprising against the disastrous strategic choices of the regime. At that point, the Iranian regime virtually lost whatever little global legitimacy it had enjoyed. But the war launched by the US and Israel has placed European defenders of democratic principles in a fix. Quite rightly, they declined to take part in it and thus avoided responsibility for a potentially prolonged chaos in Iran, but more so in the region.
Trump must now bear the consequences. The continuation of his aggressive and unrestrained unilateralism can be checkmated – to the infinite relief and benefit of the world – by the Europeans. For this, they need to achieve their military sovereignty and should not place their arsenal at the disposal of Trump to satisfy his whims, caprices and greed for power.
