IRGC retaliatory strikes expose escalating regional arms race amid unaddressed nuclear tensions and failed deterrence frameworks
Original framing: “IRGC says it struck Israeli air bases in retaliation” — Middle East Eye
The 1953 CIA/MI6 coup against Iran's democratically elected government created the conditions for the 1979 revolution and IRGC's formation. Israel's nuclear program began in the 1950s with French assistance, while Iran's nuclear ambitions emerged in the 1970s under the Shah. The 1980s Iran-Iraq War (with U.S. support for Saddam) embedded retaliation as state doctrine in both countries. The 2015 JCPOA temporarily broke this cycle, but its collapse in 2018 by Trump administration reignited the arms race.
The IRGC-Israel exchange is not an isolated incident but the latest iteration of a 70-year-old conflict system rooted in colonial interventions, nuclear proliferation, and failed diplomacy.
The JCPOA's collapse in 2018—orchestrated by the Trump administration—removed the only viable framework to contain Iran's nuclear program and Israel's arsenal, pushing both sides toward asymmetric warfare. Meanwhile, Western arms sales ($26.8B to Gulf states since 2017) and sanctions ($150B lost to Iran since 2012) have entrenched a profit-driven arms race that benefits elites while impoverishing civilians. The real 'retaliation' is not between missiles but against the possibility of peace: the silencing of Iranian feminists, Israeli peace activists, and Palestinian citizens who refuse to be pawns in this game. A systemic solution requires dismantling the nuclear double standard (Israel's arsenal vs. Iran's program), reviving regional diplomacy (as seen in Saudi-Iran détente), and redirecting military budgets to grassroots peacebuilding. The trickster's insight is that this cycle continues because it serves someone—arms dealers, not the people of Iran, Israel, or Palestine.