By nine tomorrow morning, Wednesday our time, Filipinos and indeed, the rest of the world, will know whether those “crazy bastards” (Donald Trump’s language), the Iranians, “will be living in hell” (Trump’s language) if they fail to reopen “the fu**in’” (Trump’s language) Strait of Hormuz.
On Sunday, Trump posted this on his Truth Social:
“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!!” Mr. Trump wrote on social media. “Open the Fu**in’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH.”
“Tuesday, 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time!” he later added.
The Strait of Hormuz has become the most critical maritime oil chokepoint, the gateway through which passes a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil supply as well as 20 percent of the global liquified natural gas (LNG) – a total of 20 million barrels of oil every day. The strait is the only sea passage for major oil exporters Saudi Arabia, Iraq, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Iran. It feeds 80 percent of the oil and fuel supplies of Asia, particularly China, India, Japan and South Korea. Also, 30 percent of traded fertilizers (particularly urea) transit through the strait. Iran has taken control of the strait and now clears and charges oil tankers passing through.
Iran’s central military command has dismissed Trump’s ultimatum as “a helpless, nervous, unbalanced and stupid action.” Mehdi Tabatabaei, deputy for communications at the Iranian president’s office, said on Sunday that Iran would only open the strait after receiving compensation for war damages, paid out of transit fees from the strait. Trump, with his threats to attack Iran’s civil infrastructure over the strait’s closure, he said, had “resorted to obscenities and nonsense out of sheer desperation and anger.”
In effect, Iran has called Trump’s bluff: “Come and get us.”
The wish of every peace-loving citizen is that the US president would not proceed with obliterating Iran’s power plants, bridges and every strategic civilian infrastructure in Iran. If you turn off electricity in hospitals, millions will die. If you cut off access to food supplies of civilians, millions will die. No one should be able to inflict such mayhem on mankind, even if you are the commander-in-chief of the most powerful army on earth. It’s a war crime. And war criminals are eventually prosecuted and made to account for their misdeeds. Of course, the more Iran is pummeled the more will it tighten its grip on the Strait of Hormuz and display its resilience.
The US-Israel vs Iran war has deteriorated into a fight between one madman and eight billion people of the world. Surely, eight billion people united against one madman cannot be wrong.
Some notable convicted war criminals:
• Nazi war crime: Hermann Göring (commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe), Joachim von Ribbentrop (foreign minister) and others were convicted of crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
• Japanese war crimes: Hideki Tojo (former Japanese prime minister), Kenji Doihara and Seishir? Itagaki were among the six sentenced to death.
• Bosco Ntaganda was convicted in 2019 of 18 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the DRC. Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman was also found guilty of crimes in Sudan.
• Ratko Mladi? was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity.
Over 5,500 lower-ranking criminals were convicted by Allied powers in separate trials across Asia.
• Philippine trials: High-ranking Japanese officials, such as Lt. Gen. Yoshihide Hayashi, were tried and executed in the Philippines.
• Vietnam war: US Army and Marine Corps personnel (around 121 in total) were convicted by court-martial for the murder or manslaughter of Vietnamese individuals.
In an open letter to the American people April 1, Iran president Masoud Pezeshkian raised a fundamental question:
“Exactly which of the American people’s interests are truly being served by this war? Was there any objective threat from Iran to justify such behavior? Does the massacre of innocent children, the destruction of cancer-treatment pharmaceutical facilities or boasting about bombing a country ‘back to the stone ages’ serve any purpose other than further damaging the United States’ global standing?”
In previous negotiations, Pezeshkian recalled, Iran “reached an agreement, and fulfilled all its commitments. The decision to withdraw from that agreement, escalate toward confrontation and launch two acts of aggression in the midst of negotiations were destructive choices made by the US government – choices that served the delusions of a foreign aggressor.”
He said: “Attacking Iran’s vital infrastructure – including energy and industrial facilities – directly targets the Iranian people. Beyond constituting a war crime, such actions carry consequences that extend far beyond Iran’s borders. They generate instability, increase human and economic costs and perpetuate cycles of tension, planting seeds of resentment that will endure for years.
“This is not a demonstration of strength; it is a sign of strategic bewilderment and an inability to achieve a sustainable solution. Is it not also the case that America has entered this aggression as a proxy for Israel, influenced and manipulated by that regime? Is it not true that Israel, by manufacturing an Iranian threat, seeks to divert global attention away from its crimes toward the Palestinians? Is it not evident that Israel now aims to fight Iran to the last American soldier and the last American taxpayer dollar – shifting the burden of its delusions onto Iran, the region and the United States itself in pursuit of illegitimate interests?
“Today, the world stands at crossroads. Continuing along the path of confrontation is more costly and futile than ever before,” the Iranian leader told Americans. “The choice between confrontation and engagement is both real and consequential; its outcome will shape the future for generations to come. Throughout its millennia of proud history, Iran has outlasted many aggressors. All that remains of them are tarnished names in history, while Iran endures – resilient, dignified and proud.”
* * *
Email: biznewsasia@gmail.com