The view from India newsletter Backing the aggressor: Trump the warmonger

(This article is part of the View From India newsletter curated by The Hindu’s foreign affairs experts. To get the newsletter in your inbox every Monday, subscribe here.)

Israel’s war on Iran began on June 13, 2025. A week later, it is as much the Unites States’s war. President Donald Trump, who rose to power six months ago promising peace, is hardly a peacemaker. “He has become a warmonger and a globalist aggressor,” as The Hindu’s editorial today notes, in the wake of American B2 bombers dropping bunker-busting bombs at Fordow, Iran’s most heavily fortified nuclear facility, while U.S. submarines fired Tomahawk missiles at the Natanz and Isfahan nuclear plants, even as Israel struggled to intercept Iranian ballistic missiles.

While the U.S.’s actions against Iran are not surprising, given its long-persisting hostilities with Iran and its much-criticised, yet unwavering support to Israel in the bombardment of Gaza, Mr. Trump’s own reckless leadership adds yet another, dangerous layer of volatility to the world that is seeing enormous turbulence and destruction.

What is Israel’s endgame in Iran? Our International Affairs Editor Stanly Johny addressed this question in our newsletter last week. Do read it for context. Also watch this, where he breaks down Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s objectives—from regime change and diplomatic pressure, to dragging the U.S. into direct conflict. The latter has now been achieved, and West Asia is in for more, deadly turbulence.

Also Watch | U.S. strikes Iran’s key nuclear sites: What next? Stanly Johny answers key questions.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has warned against yet “another cycle of destruction” and retaliation following the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, which he said marked a “perilous turn” in the region. “The people of the region cannot endure another cycle of destruction. And yet, we now risk descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation,” he added.

The consequences of Israel’s provocation will be far-reaching, impacting not just the region but the entire world. Iran’s Parliament, the Majlis, has reportedly approved the closure of the Strait of Hormuz in response to the attacks by the U.S. on Iranian nuclear facilities, the country’s state-owned media PressTV reported on Sunday (June 22, 2025), citing Esmaeil Kowsari, a member of the Majlis. According to the report, the final decision on the closure of the Strait of Hormuz lies with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. The Strait of Hormuz connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, and is one of the world’s most important oil trade routes, T.C.A. Sharad Raghavan reports.

Impact on India

In this comprehensive explainer, our Diplomatic Affairs Editor Suhasini Haidar explains India’s stand on the escalation in West Asia, the impact of the war on Indian workers in Israel and Iran, efforts on the evacuation front and more. As the conflict escalated, the MEA and its embassies in Tehran and Tel Aviv put evacuation efforts, as part of what was named ‘Operation Sindhu’, on priority. Unlike the rest of West Asia, where nearly 10 million Indians reside, relatively fewer numbers live in Iran and Israel. There are about 10,000 students and professionals in Iran and about 25,000 workers, students and researchers in Israel, many of whom only moved recently to fill in for construction and caregiver jobs after Israel dismissed thousands of Palestinian workers in the wake of the October 7 terror attacks in 2023, she writes. In a special gesture, Iran opened its embattled airspace to allow flights carrying 1,000 Indians home.

Our colleague Kallol Bhattacherjee tracked updates from the Ministry of External Affairs on the evacuation of Indians. Hours after the U.S. struck three prominent nuclear sites in Iran, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with the President of Iran, Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday, and called for “immediate de-escalation”.

However, should India play a more proactive role? Suhasini Haidar tells us at what’s at stake and what India’s responses mean. Watch the latest episode of Worldview.

Gaza out of focus

Nearly 56,000 Palestinians have been confirmed killed between October 7, 2023 and June 22, 2025, an Al Jazeera graphic reminded us, as Israel’s war on Iran displaces every other headline in the world. Although people’s resistance to Israel’s persisting killings in and bombardment of Gaza is growing significantly, especially in Europe, governments are still reluctant to call out Israel on what many rights groups have unambiguously deemed a genocide. Last week, India had abstained in a UN resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza. Every other member of BRICS, SCO and SAARC and even all G-7 members minus the U.S. had voted in favour of the resolution critical of actions. In a break from older positions, New Delhi has made it clear that India will not criticise Israel.

When both, Israel’s motivations as well as the mass killings and destruction in Gaza are amply evident, many prominent governments across the world are simply watching, privileging their myopic, strategic calculations over basic humanity. Morality does not inform realpolitik, but overlooking a catastrophe of this magnitude cannot serve even self-interest in the long term.

Top 5 stories this week:

1. It is still not too late for India’s voice to be heard: New Delhi’s silence on the devastation in Gaza and the hostilities against Iran is a disturbing departure from its moral and diplomatic traditions, contends Sonia Gandhi, Chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party

2. NPT | For the sake of peace, at the cost of war: While Iran has long proclaimed adherence to the NPT’s basic tenets and benefited from them vis-à-vis civilian nuclear technology, its covert activities in violation of the treaty’s safeguards have progressively undermined trust and led to an international crisis that is still unfolding, writes Vasudevan Mukunth

3. Blaise Metreweli | Licensed to spy: Ramya Kannan profiles the first woman chief of the MI6, said to be well-versed in technology, a prerequisite for espionage operations in an increasingly ‘post-truth’ world

4. Resetting the India-U.S. partnership in uncertain times: While the structural logic of the partnership remains robust, what is needed is a reset that is marked by clarity and mutual commitment, writes Amitabh Mattoo, Professor and Dean, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.

5. Lessons from Operation Sindoor’s global outreach: The intensive period of public diplomacy affirmed that India, when united, can project its voice with clarity and conviction on international platforms, writes Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.

Published – June 23, 2025 02:49 pm IST