THE Iranian leadership has been wiped out by American-Israeli alliance, but Iran is still standing tall. Nobody can say how long Iran could bear the might of the superpower fighting along with proxy Israel, but one thing is clear: the vulner-ability of the American military has been exposed because it has failed to protect Israel and its Middle Eastern allies.

American people are safe for they are located far away, otherwise the whole of America would have been yelling by now to stop the war. The present generation of Americans has never tasted the bitter taste of war. The civil war is only in their history books, the two world wars were fought in Europe, Asia and Africa, while the United States entered World War II indirectly, and, later as an active parti-cipant, only after Japan attacked the naval base at Pearl Harbour. The Vietnam and Afghanistan wars were also fought in lands far away.

Now that Donald Trump has said he is considering sending American troops to Iran, a sane advice to him would be to avoid doing that, otherwise the vulnerability of US ground troops will also be exposed. As thaings stand, Russia and China are just spectators, and that is good for keeping the prospects of World War III at bay.

Malik ul Quddoos
Karachi

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2026