This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri,  Manisha Pande, Jayashree Arunachalam, and Shardool Katyayan are joined by AFP’s chief US correspondent Shaun Tandon and Aditya Ramanathan, research fellow at Takshila Institution. 

In this episode, the panel discusses the escalating war between the United States, Israel and Iran following a series of joint strikes that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and triggered retaliatory attacks across West Asia.

Shaun Tandon explains that although the Donald Trump administration hesitates to formally call the operation a war due to Congressional approval requirements, the scale of the conflict clearly meets that definition.

“By any reasonable definition, this is a war. In the US, there’s a technical aspect: Congress has the power to declare war, which is why officials sometimes avoid that term. But when you’re bombing a country nonstop for nearly a week, it’s very hard to describe it as anything else.”

On American public opinion, Tandon notes, “There’s a difference between people opposing a conflict and it becoming a decisive political issue. Historically, wars like Afghanistan were unpopular, yet they were not always voters’ primary concern.”

The panel then takes a hard look at the civilian toll, with Jayashree slamming the justifications for the strikes. 

She highlights, “You have 165 children aged between seven and twelve who were killed in a school strike. Children were also in a nearby gymnasium practising sports when the bombing happened. The US claims it is trying to stop a nuclear programme, yet there is no clear evidence that Iran is even close to building a nuclear weapon. The justifications being given are absurd.”

Aditya Ramanathan also breaks down the implications of the sinking of the Iranian warship IRIS Dena following a US torpedo attack in the Indian Ocean. He notes that the circumstances of the attack raise real concerns for India.

He says, “What makes this situation troubling for India is that the vessel had participated in an exercise hosted by India and was returning home. It would not have been in those waters otherwise. The incident, therefore, happened in India’s strategic backyard and carries diplomatic implications.”

This and a lot more. Tune in!