Three boxers and an unprecedented abyss

Ghassan Charbel

Unprecedented scenes in the horrific Middle East. On the hot stage are three great boxers, bloodstains, and lakes of rubble. The people of the region woke up to discover that American bombers had swooped down at dawn on three Iranian nuclear facilities. The Israelis woke up to find their cities devastated by the likes of which they had not witnessed since the establishment of the state in 1948. The Iranians woke up to find their skies in the grip of Israeli fighter jets raining missiles on military bases, radars, and platforms, hunting down generals and nuclear scientists.
Three boxers whose decisions will affect the security and stability of the region and the integrity of the arteries connecting it to the world. The story extends beyond Hormuz and is more dangerous. Three have the ability to land blows but lack the ability to retreat once they have gone too far. Three boxers, each of whom wants to expand their country's role or restore it to greatness.
The boxing great was born on June 14, 1946. Coincidentally, he was born in the month that produced a record number of wars in the Middle East. Coincidentally, he celebrated his birthday the day after the Israeli airstrikes on Iran. He had just begun spending the final years of his seventies, and the eighties would follow him during his stay in the White House.
He didn't fight in Vietnam or anywhere else. He pursued business and learned the "art of the deal." His obsession was profit and he didn't like to admit losses. He grasped the magic of the screen and appeared on it before Americans, who memorized his famous phrase, "You're fired."
Success in real estate whetted his appetite for the White House. He flipped between parties, then joined the Republican Party, later succeeding in capturing it and the White House. An outsider held the reins of power in the "sole superpower."
During his first term, Donald Trump made two critical decisions relevant to the current situation: the first, withdrawing from the nuclear agreement with Iran, and the second, assassinating General Qassem Soleimani near Baghdad International Airport. However, when he entered his second term, he presented himself as someone eager to end wars and enter history through peacemaking and the Nobel Prize. Regarding the Iranian nuclear issue, he negotiated, set deadlines, and threatened with horrors. What happened, happened, culminating in the US airstrikes on nuclear facilities.
The second boxer was born on April 19, 1939. He is now in his second half of the 1980s. On June 4, 1989, he was appointed "Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution." It is not at all simple for a person to be entrusted with Khomeini's legacy and to enjoy unlimited powers in a country like Iran. Ali Khamenei continued the policy of exporting the revolution, a clause in the country's constitution. He sponsored Qassem Soleimani's program, which called for encircling Israel and the region with missiles and "parallel armies."
Under Khamenei, Iran achieved major breakthroughs in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, post-Ali Abdullah Saleh Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon. However, these successes were met with a hurricane-like blow after the "flood" unleashed by Yahya Sinwar. The Syrian episode collapsed, and Bashar al-Assad now watches the fires from his Russian exile, while Ahmed al-Sharaa managed to keep Syria away from the flames.
A scene no less painful for the Supreme Leader was seeing Lebanese Hezbollah without Hassan Nasrallah and unable to wage a new war with Israel, even in support of Iran itself. It was difficult for Khamenei, who was living in the second half of the 1980s, to offer Soleimani's killer a large gift to ward off the blows of Nasrallah's killer.
Unprecedented scenes have been circulating for the Supreme Leader recently. Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas, was killed in Tehran itself. Nasrallah was killed in Beirut along with a number of his pillars. Sinwar and Hamas leaders were killed in Gaza. Sharaa won with handshakes and promises of aid, while washing Syria's hands of the Iranian era. Then came Trump, offering Iran a life without Syria and its "arms," and without an increasingly needed "insurance policy"—a nuclear bomb or living on the verge of manufacturing one. Khamenei was unable to prevent the other boxers from allying with his country.
The third boxer was born in Tel Aviv on October 21, 1949. He is now in his second half of the seventies. He has set a number of records that have exhausted the region. He has now spent 17 years in the Prime Minister's Office, surpassing all his predecessors. He also holds the record for killing Palestinians and their leaders, as well as leaders of the Lebanese Hezbollah.
For years, he has dreamed of taking the battle to its "real theater," a direct confrontation with Iran. He considered its nuclear program an "existential threat" and repeatedly knocked on the White House's doors, seeking American participation in unleashing a hurricane against it. It's clear that Benjamin Netanyahu has succeeded in infiltrating Trump's mind, his calculations, and his twists and turns.
The future of the region now hinges on the decisions of three boxers concerned with their future image in history. The game is critical and dangerous. If the Iranian boxer responds directly to the American boxer, a war of this magnitude could shake the foundations of the regime itself. It is difficult to believe that he can prolong the exchange of blows with the Israeli boxer without facing American intervention.
One day, Qassem Soleimani told a small group that the American thread is what maintains the "unjust balances" in the Middle East, and that "this thread must be cut, and this is possible." He also said that if Israel were an American aircraft carrier, then carriers would sink if they were hit by deep holes and their populations lost confidence in their army and government.
Have the Israeli and American boxers agreed to destroy the Iranian nuclear program and sever the thread linking Tehran to the theaters of war? Three top boxers and unprecedented scenes. Who can bring the horrific Middle East back from the abyss?

About the Middle East

The future of the region now hinges on the decisions of three boxers concerned about their future image in history. The game is critical and dangerous. If the Iranian boxer responds directly to the American boxer, a war of this magnitude could shake the foundations of the regime itself.