Could one lunch in Washington cause so much dyspepsia in Delhi, or indigestion in Islamabad?

On 18 June 2025, President Trump invited Field Marshal Asim Munir for a private meal in the White House’s Cabinet Room. He set five places: for himself, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s aide Steve Witkoff. Munir sat with General Asim Malik, ISI Head and NSA. There was no place for a representative of Pakistan’s elected government. [Later, Rubio deadened Islamabad’s pique by phoning PM Shehbaz Sharif.]  

Trump’s working lunch, scheduled for an hour, extended  into two. Trump’s  disregard for WH scheduling is proverbial. In July 2019, Trump received PM Imran Khan and spent almost four hours taking him on a tour of the White House, with a photo-op with Melania.

Trump had hoped that after the recent G-7 meeting in Canada, PM Modi would accompany him to Washington. Modi ‘politely’ declined Trump’s invitation, rejecting yet again Trump’s contention that he brokered the Indo-Pak ceasefire in May.

Returning to Washington, an unabashed Trump tweeted that he had brokered peace deals between the DPR of Congo and Rwanda; Serbia and Kosovo, Egypt and Ethiopia; and the Abraham Accords. But, he griped: ‘I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize for stopping the War between India and Pakistan. I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize no matter what I do, including Russia/Ukraine, and Israel/Iran’. Being Caesar is obviously not laurel enough.   

Within days of Trump’s lunch, Pakistan indulged his whim. Pakistan, in ‘obsequious bondage’, formally recommended Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, citing his ‘strategic foresight and stellar statesmanship’. The Iranians would prefer to see Trump receive a different award – for Duplicity.

During the past fiery fortnight, while Iran and Israel lobbed missiles and drones at each other, Trump held out that he would decide Iran’s fate ‘within a fortnight’. He encouraged the U.K., France and Germany plus the EU to negotiate with Iran in Geneva. No sooner had they retired for the weekend than overnight on Sunday, Trump gave the order for a sneak attack on Iran. Seven B-2 Spirit stealth bombers flew over supine Syria and impotent Iraq. They dropped 420,000 pounds of explosives on Iran’s nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.

This mission - planned over months – was executed within hours, with multi-pronged precision. It involved 14 GBU-57 “bunker buster” bombs and two dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from a U.S. submarine. The attack on Fordow was not entirely successful. It had to be repeated by a second sortie of B-2s. 

Trump exulted at his ‘spectacular military success’. He warned of ‘far greater’ attacks if Iran does not ‘make peace.’ Netanyahu heaped shovels of praise, congratulating the U.S.’s  ‘awesome and righteous might … which will change history’. He continued: ‘’President Trump and I often say, ‘Peace through strength’. First comes strength, then comes peace’.”  

Netanyahu’s strategy is clearly to make Israel with US backing the preeminent power in the region, and at a personal level, to fortify his position within Israel. Trump’s intervention has made his dream a reality. The tail has finally wagged the dog. It bit.

Today, Iran - a Shia state headed by an 87 year old cleric - stands alone, surrounded by a herd of Arabian sheep. Will Iran capitulate? Unlikely. For centuries since October 680 CE, Shias every Muharram recall the martyrdom of Imam Hussain and his stoic companions at Karbala. Iran’s leadership may well believe: ‘If you are prepared to die, nobody can kill you’. 

On Tuesday, after an attack by Iran on U.S. Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar (artfully choreographed with US connivance to minimise damage), Trump claimed he had arranged a ceasefire between Iran and Israel. They obeyed his intervention by violating the ceasefire. An irate Trump has been driven to spouting expletives.  

Israel’s actions have obviously emboldened India. Its Home Minister Amit Shah declared again that India will never restore the Indus Waters Treaty: ‘We will take water that was flowing to Pakistan to Rajasthan by constructing a canal. Pakistan will be starved of water that it has been getting unjustifiably.’

Pakistan seeks negotiations, but has warned India continued suspension or abrogation of the IWT constitutes a casus belli. Would a war result in a dependable supply of water? Or is PM Modi’s plan to convert Pakistan into a modern Karbala?

When threats replace diplomacy, nations like Pakistan and Iran are vulnerable victims of the vaunting ambition of others. Trump’s maverick decisions, Netanyahu’s gory genocide, Modi’s aversion to negotiations, and the Dr. Strangelove advice of US hawks to Trump that he should ‘reluctantly blow Iran to smithereens’ remind one of Friedrich Schiller's maxim: ‘Against stupidity, even the gods fight in vain’.

F. S. AIJAZUDDIN

[DAWN, 26 June 2025]