Asia Pacific Report
A professor of US and international politics at University College Dublin, says Washington’s objectives in the war against Iran are “slightly different” than Israel’s.
“They didn’t necessarily want regime change; they want regime surrender — the regime to give up its nuclear programme entirely, to give up its ballistic missile programme, to break its alliances in the Middle East,” Dr Scott Lucas told Al Jazeera.
“The problem here is that the regime doesn’t appear to be even giving way to those conditions, so where is the off-ramp?”
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For Dr Lucas, the only countries that have leverage in the current situation are the Gulf states, because of Trump’s personal and family investments, as well as oil and US assets in the region and strategic interests.
“If the domestic situation worsens for Trump, then there may be that opening for the Gulf states” to ask for a pullback, he said, adding that would be “especially true” if there is another surge in the price of oil in the coming days.
‘Spare the hypocrisy’, Baghael tells EU chief
Meanwhile, Esmaeil Baghaei, the spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, has said “spare the hypocrisy” in reaction to a speech by EU chief Ursula von der Leyen during which she said, “The people of Iran deserve freedom, dignity, and the right to decide their own future.”
Commenting on a video of von der Leyen’s speech, Baghaei said: “Please spare the hypocrisy. You’ve made a career out of standing on the wrong side of history — green-lighting occupation, genocide, and atrocities, and now laundering [the] US/Israeli crime of aggression and war crimes against Iranians.”
He accused the EU leadership of being silent “in the face of lawlessness and atrocity”, saying this “is nothing less than complicity”.
This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
APR editor | Radio Free (2026-03-11T00:33:02+00:00) US-Israeli war on Iran confusion clouds ‘off-ramp’ hope, says analyst. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2026/03/11/us-israeli-war-on-iran-confusion-clouds-off-ramp-hope-says-analyst/
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