In the backdrop of reports quoting a senior commander in Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard warning that Iran will target US bases in the region in the event of war with Israel, now what we are learning is that another top Iranian official has said World War III may erupt if his country is attacked by Israel, concerned over Tehran's controversial nuclear programme. The fear is that any attack on Iran (by Israel) has the danger of spreading into a broader conflict that would force other countries to get involved. The world is heading for a dangerous situation given the unresolved tension over Iran's nuclear program and Israel's suggestion that it might unilaterally strike Iranian nuclear facilities to scuttle what the United States and its allies believe are efforts to build a bomb. Tehran on its part says that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Now the question for the international community is whether World War III can even be justified over Iran’s nuclear programme. Ever since World War II, the international comity of nations under the United Nations (UN) has somehow managed to live in peace, avoiding atleast a global war or a nuclear face-off. And wherever conflicts or wars have taken place, it has been kept limited. So another World War is just not an option anymore and the human race can ill afford the devastation of a major war and its consequences like Hirsohima and Nagasaki.
In fact the upcoming General Assembly of the United Nations in New York is going to be vital for the peace and security of the global community. The UN forum is still the most inclusive where friends and foes get equal opportunity to speak and address the global community. And so with more than 120 Presidents, Prime Ministers and monarchs at the UN General Assembly, this is an opportunity to reach out to each other with the realization that war is never the answer to any conflict or misunderstanding and that the way of peace has to be explored. The US must continue to reach out to the Muslim world and it will be good if Nobel Peace Laureate President Barack Obama can be the statesman to offer the hand of friendship so that the work of diplomacy and peace can resume on the conflicting issues. On concerns over Iran, a mechanism has to be found in order to avoid direct confrontation between Tehran and Israel. If during the Cold War the US and the then Soviet Union could overcome grave threat to international peace such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, why can’t we also do the same and evolve a peaceful mechanism.
Here we can perhaps add that India is in a unique position to use its good ties with both Tehran and Washington and bring about a diplomatic solution, one that does not in any way jeopardize world peace, Israel’s security and its right to exist or the sovereign right of Iran to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. As the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has rightly predicted that the coming UN session, will be among the busiest ever, reflecting "the tumultuous time in which we live — a time of turmoil and transition." In the backdrop of all that is happening around the world—the UNGA is a welcome time to restore a sense of peace and perhaps send out the message that dialogue and understanding is the only way that we can live together as a human race.
