Scholars recently converged on the secretariat of the Centre for Peace and Security Studies at the Lagos State University to dwell on the issues surrounding the Israeli-Iranian war and its implications. LADESOPE LADELOKUN brings the report
Before 1979, history records that Iran was the closest ally of Israel. They shared economic and political relations, hobnobbing to the consternation of other Arab nations.
In fact, stories are told by scholars of how an Iranian was once the president of Israel. Fast forward to 2025, reports indicate that the once sweet relationship between both countries has gone sour, leading to the exchange of bombs until the current ceasefire.
Speaking on the genesis of the hostility between the two countries at a symposium titled, “Israeli-Iranian war 2025: Issues and Implications”, which was held at the Lagos State University recently, Director, Centre for Peace and Security Studies, Prof Adewunmi Falode, explained that when the Iranian Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who was friendly to the Israelis, got toppled in 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who replaced him, became an automatic enemy of the Israelis.
Major contactless expensive war
According to Prof Falode, the Iranian-Israeli war is the first major contactless (technology) war, stating that America destroyed Iran’s nuclear enrichment site with 14 bombs worth $7 billion.
“You hardly ever see the troops engage in urban warfare. They were just sending missiles across the borders. You can’t compare this to what they have in Ukraine. Ukraine sent troops to Russia. Russia sent troops to Ukraine. That was physical. This is just a war of technology. That is why it is a contactless war. They took out all the military chiefs without seeing them physically. They took out the scientists without seeing them physically.
“They took out the nuclear enrichment plants without going there physically to plant the bomb. Pakistan and India had that recently. India launched bombs into Pakistan. Pakistan launched bombs into India. It was just for two to three days. But the Israeli-Iranian war is the first major contactless war. Each bomb America used costs $500 million, calculate the cost of the 14 bombs it used to destroy their nuclear enrichment site. War is business.”
Its Genesis 10 years ago
Head of the Political Science Department, Lagos State University, Dr Mohammed Abdul-Wasi, quoted Israeli President, Benjamin Natanyahu, as saying that the war in Iran started over 10 years ago.
“What did they do when they started? The purpose was to deal with proxies. Who were these proxies? The Hezbollah, the Hamas…when Israelis realised that they had decimated all the proxies, that was the time they attacked Iran directly. Before they attacked Iran, some of us who have been following were amazed because Iran had been infiltrated. The intelligence of Iran had been compromised. Several scientists in Iran had been killed.”
Iran without allies?
Commenting on this, former Dean, Faculty of Arts, Prof Abolade Adeniji, questioned the propriety of Iran starting a war without a dependable ally.
“Why does Iran not have a friend? Why does Iran not have an ally? When you start a war, you should have at least three, four, five countries that will back you up. And then, I have a list here: Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt, Turkey, and Russia. And the non-state forces, Hezbollah, Hamas…Then, above all, the entire Muslim Ummah, which is about 2.5 billion of world population, nobody stood up to assist Iran. The question is: what went wrong?
“China and Russia are countries with which Iran maintains close relations. And, in fact, they had given some disguised assurances to go ahead with the war. We make pretensions here and there every day. But let’s face it. For now, we are still in a unipolar world. Only one country has economic reach, political reach to project power anywhere in the world and that country is the U.S. I hate admitting this but that is the existing reality.”
Toothless UN
The ineffectiveness of UN is another issue. Prof Adeniji posited that the United States of America demonstrated an abuse of power by acting on speculation to attack Iran. He, however, declared the United Nations toothless for failing to end wars.
“Everything suggests it was an abuse. What the US claims is speculative. ‘We suspect that these people have weapons of mass destruction and we further suspect that they will use them against us’. And on account of that, you are acting. Every thing is speculative. First, we are not sure they have it. Even if they have it, who says they will use it against you. But because of what you are, you think you can act.
“The UN has been toothless. What difference does it make if it is not effective? It was created to end wars. Wars have continued. It does not have to collapse. If it is not effective, it is not serving its purpose. It has not collapsed because it is the nearest to the world government that we have. We will keep indulging it.”
Third World War fears dismissed
Despite fears in some quarters that the Iranian-Israeli war could mark the beginning of the third world war, Prof Adeniji said nothing suggests such.
“I would have been concerned if Russia had said ‘we frown at what is going on’. That will be a different thing. Or China saying ‘we are not going to fold our arms and allow our ally to be rubbished’. It changes the trajectory but you saw what I addressed, all of them just melted away. However, what history has taught us is that you can’t play God. It is only what happened today that you know but you don’t know what will happen tomorrow morning. But for today, there are no indicators that a third world war would happen. It would have been different if the country mentioned were assertive. But they melted away, disgracefully if you ask me.”
According to Prof Adeniji, the last has not been heard about the Iran-Israel war as it has only been suspended “There is only a pause. It can’t be the end. Natanyahu’s dream is regime change. His desire is for what happened in Iraq and Libya to happen in Iran so that there will be no central government. That is his dream but that has not happened.”
