After Renewed Bombardment: Our Alternatives in the Scorching Gulf Summer

Since yesterday, and the day before, and perhaps today and tomorrow, the United States has been launching attacks on Iranian targets aimed at continuing the negotiation process under fire, compelling Iran to comply with the American vision for signing an agreement that primarily meets Israeli demands, especially regarding the Iranian nuclear issue. On the other hand, Tehran is responding to American targets in neighboring countries, sometimes hitting non-American and non-military targets, which is regrettable. Observers and analysts agree that the region extending from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean shores will not return to what it was before the outbreak of the American-Israeli war on Iran. This war, which came as an extension and culmination of a series of wars that have been ongoing since October 7, 2023, has not yet settled, and rounds of escalation are shifting from southern Lebanon to the Strait of Hormuz, with the Houthis on standby to cautiously and gradually engage in these activities. This ongoing war has posed a difficult test, perhaps the most challenging one, for the existing frameworks and structures of collective action, as well as the flexible and solid alliances that have emerged from it. Moreover, it plays a significant role in redefining power balances and dynamics. The aftermath of February 28 is not like its predecessor; this is the most important conclusion. Israel has waged these wars with the support of the Trump administration under the banner of reshaping the Middle East and redrawing its maps, a vision that embodies an expansionist colonial project: 'Greater Israel,' at least between the river and the sea, along with 'security belts' deep within Lebanese and Syrian geography. This has marked Israel's transition from a state of 'superiority' to a state of 'hegemony,' where the end justifies the means, even if it reaches unprecedented levels of brutality and extermination, breaking red lines and striking indiscriminately, day and night, continuously.