The Handover

How Israel Replaced the West in Global Power Politics

For over a century, Iran’s sovereignty has been systematically undermined by external actors. From Britain’s orchestration of the 1953 coup against Prime Minister Mossadegh to America’s long campaign of sanctions, sabotage, and shadow warfare, Iran has never been free of foreign intervention. But today marks a new phase. The empire’s torch has been passed once again. Not to a superpower, but to a state whose leadership is wanted for war crimes. Israel has now assumed the reins of Western power, operating with a freedom even Washington once hesitated to wield.

Just an hour ago, Donald J. Trump returning to the presidency as a peace President has wasted no time, after duplicity on two fronts about peace, announced that American planes (B52 Bombers), had dropped a full payload of bombs on three of Iran’s most fortified nuclear facilities: Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan. With almost boastful triumph, Trump praised the mission’s success, claiming all planes had exited Iranian airspace safely and that no other military on Earth could have pulled it off. Yet this operation did not originate in Washington. It began with Israel.

Nine days of escalating direct fire between Iran and Israel have shattered the illusion that diplomacy was still on the table. The immediate spark came when Israel launched a pre-emptive strike on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure just days before peace talks were due to begin. The message was unambiguous: there would be no negotiations. What followed was the most intense direct confrontation in the region’s history. Iran responded with waves of missiles and drones, striking Israeli cities including Tel Aviv and Haifa, killing civilians and wounding dozens. Israel responded with relentless aerial bombardments. And now, the United States has joined the fray not as mediator, but as participant.

This is not just a shift in military strategy. It is a tectonic transformation in global power. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister indicted by the International Criminal Court, now appears to dictate not only Israel’s wartime posture, but that of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe. Trump’s airstrikes are not evidence of leadership; they are confirmation of subordination. In London, there has been no dissent. British officials issue muted statements of concern while quietly endorsing the Israeli line. In Brussels, European governments have suspended diplomatic engagement with Tehran altogether, effectively abandoning the peace process.

What once would have been seen as shocking, a U.S. president authorising strikes on another sovereign nation’s nuclear facilities without Congressional approval or international backing, is now tolerated, even cheered on, because the initiator was not Trump, but Netanyahu. Israel has achieved what no Western ally has ever managed: complete deference from the most powerful governments on Earth.

It is a de facto imperial succession. Britain once ruled through overt colonisation. America ruled through proxies, covert action, and economic warfare. But Israel now rules by dictating which wars get fought, when, and by whom, while facing no consequences. This is not an alliance. This is a takeover.

There are no more illusions of multilateralism or shared values. Netanyahu’s government does not seek consensus. It seeks supremacy. And the West, instead of restraining it, is financing, shielding, and now actively fighting on its behalf. A man facing international indictment has managed to drag the world into a conflict that risks engulfing the region, with no clear endgame and no credible opposition.

The world now stands on the brink of a broader regional war, and the traditional mechanisms of diplomacy have been rendered obsolete. The Geneva talks are dead. The Muscat roadmap has been shelved. The United Nations, paralysed and humiliated, can do nothing. Israel struck first. Iran responded. America has entered. Britain and Europe have followed. And none of it can be walked back.

This is not simply a failure of policy. It is a surrender of sovereignty by Western democracies to a wartime government that no longer hides its ambitions. Israel does not ask for permission. It sets the terms. And the West, from Washington to Westminster, obeys.

There is no conclusion to offer, only a warning. A nation under indictment for war crimes has become the architect of a new global order. It has replaced debate with domination, diplomacy with drones, and peace with permanent war. And it is no longer answerable to anyone, not to its own courts, not to the international community, and certainly not to the publics of the countries now fighting its wars.

Let history record what is happening now with clarity: the West has not only lost control of its foreign policy—it has outsourced it to Tel Aviv.