The war in West Asia is not about any religion, or a war between religions, it is all about the insatiable human greed and intrinsic fallibility. Humans are prone to be delusional and morally corruptible by political power and material greed.
On 29 March 2026, at Palm Sunday Mass, Pope Leo XIV sharply condemned the war in West Asia and the use of religion to justify violence in the region. He said: “God does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war but rejects them, saying ‘Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: Your hands are full of blood.’” The Pope added: “Christ did not arm himself, or defend himself, or fight any war” but instead “revealed the gentle face of God, who always rejects violence … rather than saving himself, he allowed himself to be nailed to the cross, embracing every cross borne in every time and place throughout human history.” (EWTN News, 29 March 2026).
It is a now already a matter of fact that the elected supreme leaders – one of them known to be a narcissist and megalomaniac – of two militarily powerful democratic nations, the US and Israel, for intentions of reaping short-term relief from domestic political pressure in their respective countries, on a whim, decided to concentrate their combined military forces and undertook a sudden military attack on Iran, a nation of about 93 million people. In their opening attack, on 28 February 2026, they eliminated 48 political and military leaders of Iran, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (86) [Reuters, 18 March 2026; the Guardian, 2 March 2026]. On that very first day, the US is also alleged to have targeted Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, killing more than 170 school children, most of them girls (Aljazeera, 12 March 2026).
Since 28 February 2026, the US and Israel have carried out a total of about 13,000 combined strikes on Iran, killing more than 2,143 people (all parties, disputed) and wounded more than 26,500 people (primarily Iranian, disputed), and incurred a cost of more than USD$29.1 billion (and counting) to the US taxpayer (Epic Fury Live, 12 April 2026). Geo-politically, the US stands isolated, as none of its NATO partners or the Western allies support its war on Iran. Domestically, most Americans too oppose the war.
The US has a material reason underlying its attack on Iran: To consolidate its grip on the regional oil and gas reserves, especially in Iran, as it did earlier this year in Venezuela. Iran has been frustratingly defying it for long. On the other hand, however, Israel has an ideological reason behind the attack: To fulfil its more than two millennia old vision of the ‘promised land’ and Greater Israel.
Interestingly, Iran was attacked at a time when it was engaged by the US in geo-political talks, second time in the past ten months, to resolve their longstanding issues, including Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme, which was under a close supervision by the US and the IAEA till the earlier US attack of June 2025.
Notably, both the US and Israel have nuclear weapons, whereas Iran is not known to have any such weapon. As per Straits Research (2025), the US and Israel have 5,277 and 90 nuclear warheads, respectively. As per the World population Review (2026), the US (population ~349 million) is a ‘flawed’ democracy (rank 34), with an index score of 7.81 (as defined by the Economist Intelligence Unit, EIU). As per the V-Dem Institute (2026) report, the US has lost its status as a ‘liberal’ democracy for the first time in 50 years. The State of Israel (population ~ 9.6 million) is also a ‘flawed’ democracy (rank 31), with an EIU democracy index score of 7.80.
As a low for our otherwise proud human civilisation, on one hand, the current war in West Asia is mercilessly ravaging the humanity; on the other hand, however, it is amazing to see that predominant section of the civil society in India – from both majority Hindu and minority Muslim communities – as well as from Pakistan – from both majority Sunni and minority Shia communities – are currently aligned in their explicit moral support to Iran, depicting a high in our humanness and readiness to transcend our religious divisions.
As it appears now, albeit optimistically, the best of the humanity may be winning over the worst in us. Nonetheless, many of us like to believe the current war in West Asia is a war between Abrahamic religions – Judaism and Christianity versus Islam. Dreadfully also, some propagandists tend to believe the post-war resurgence of an Islamic Iran will potentially be an existential threat to the Western civilisation and, therefore, Iran may deserve obliteration or, if that is no possible, complete subjugation like its neighbouring Arab countries, irrespective of moral or ethical compasses or the cumulative wisdom of our human civilisation.
Such bizarre and unfounded beliefs may be valid but only to the ignorant mind. Scratch the surface and one will find that, one hand, it is all about controlling (or virtually stealing) Energy, such as the oil and gas reserves in the region, which requires unchallenged hegemony. On the other hand, it is also a tussle for regional supremacy between Iran and Israel, bonded by mutual hate, apprehensions, and distrust over the last eight decades since the formation of the State of Israel in May 1948.
When hegemony feels threatened, cock and bull stories are hatched to bait shallow-thinking ignorant fools, used eventually as military tools.
The US president’s recent audacious, unhinged threat to the Iranian civilisation, calling the Iranian people as ‘animals’, may be interpreted as an honest admission to what he or many of his influential fellow Americans and global supporters could be thinking about Iran. Undoubtedly, that kind of poor thinking potentially pushes the humanity closer to our obliteration.
Perhaps, the US President does not know that a vibrant, more than 6000-year-old Persian civilisation is far educated, deeper and broader than a much younger 250-year-old country that he represents. Only a naïve would not know about a significant contribution that Persia (now Iran) has made consistently to the human civilization, in terms of philosophy, literature, arts, mathematics, engineering and technology, architecture and sciences?
History is witness to what the German Nazis thought of Jews before and during the Holocaust, when they murdered six million Jewish people mercilessly. Eight decades on, the current world may be silently witnessing an ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Persian people!
Iran deserves to be acknowledged by everyone for its rich contribution to the human civilisation and respected. On the contrary, there is a fear psychosis about Iran in the Arab countries and in the West. In its character and culture, Iran is unlike any of its Arabian neighbours, it just can’t be corrupted or subjugated. It seems to be aware of itself, matured and wise, proud and intelligent. As for the fear in the West, the individual Western countries or a collective West is not so weak that a resurgent Iran could ever threaten it. Iran may retaliate but only in self defence when it is attacked. On 28 February 2026, it did not initiate the war in West Asia, it was attacked by two nuclear-armed and militarily powerful nations. All it wants now is its own space and dignity, without the crippling economic sanctions that have debilitated it economically over the last 47 years and caused deep unrest amongst a section of Iranians, who have then been taken in by the attackers and encouraged (overtly and covertly) to rise against its rulers. Like any other sovereign nation, it strives for its own share of respectability and sovereignty.
Iran’s Jewish population is known to be between 8,000 and 10,000 people, one of the largest in West Asia outside Israel. Similarly, more than one-third of the Lebanese people (around 40-percent), which is also being attacked by Israel, are Christians by faith. Similarly, around 6.5-percent Palestinians are known to be Christians.
To conclude, therefore, it is not about religion, any religion, or a war between religions; it is all about an insatiable human greed and intrinsic fallibility; it is about fear of losing grip on political power and hegemony; it is about controlling the ownership of natural resources and Energy (oil and gas) in the West Asia, especially the vast reserves that Iran, Lebanon and Palestine contain.
The war in West Asia is also not about Iran; it is about an unhinged individual operating from the region and his vision to expand his empire. For achieving his life dream, after decades of trying, he managed to control the most powerful Superpower on Earth, the US, and use its miliary power to overcome and subjugate Iran, considering Iran has been the biggest obstacle in his war path and the fiercest opponent on Earth. This individual possesses a large arsenal of weapons that includes exploitation and blackmail of both his friends and foes, to achieve his objectives by hook or by crook.
In the nutshell, therefore, the regional and world peace hinges upon whether the Superpower shakes itself off this individual’s unbelievable control and breaks free from his long tentacles and iron grip clutches.
Bill K Koul Perth, Western Australia (12 April 2026)
Copyright Bill K Koul
References:
Aljazeera, 12 March 2026. Who bombed the Iranian girls’ school, killing more than 170? What we know, Who bombed the Iranian girls’ school, killing more than 170? What we know | US-Israel war on Iran News | Al Jazeera, accessed on 12 April 2026.
Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU). The Democracy Index | Economist Intelligence Unit, The Democracy Index | Economist Intelligence Unit, accessed on 12 April 2026
Epic Fury Live, 12 April 2026. US-Iran War Tracker — Live Updates, Casualties & Evidence, https://www.epicfurylive.com/, accessed at 4.32 pm AWST on 12 April 2026.
EWTN News. 29 March 2026. Pope Leo XIV says God ‘does not listen’ to prayers of those who wage war, Pope Leo XIV says God ‘does not listen’ to prayers of those who wage war, accessed on 12 April 2026
Reuters. 18 March 2026. Which key Iranian figures have been killed in US-Israeli strikes?, Which key Iranian figures have been killed in US-Israeli strikes? | Reuters, accessed on 12 April 2026
Straits Research. Countries with Most Nuclear Weapons in 2025, The top nuclear-armed countries leading the world in 2025, accessed on 12 April 2026
Swedish Development Research Network, V-Dem Democracy Report 2026, V-Dem Democracy Report 2026 – SweDev, accessed on 12 April 2026,
The Guardian. 2 March 2026. Trump says 48 leaders killed in strikes on Iran: what we know so far on day two, Trump says 48 leaders killed in strikes on Iran: what we know so far on day two | US-Israel war on Iran | The Guardian, accessed on 12 April 2026
V-Dem. DEMOCRACY REPORT 2026, Unravelling the Democratic Era? V-DEM Democracy Report 2026, accessed on 12 April 2026
World Population Review. Democracy Index by Country 2026, Democracy Index by Country 2026, accessed on 12 April 2026
Excellent read