Once again, history seems to be repeating itself — the United States is beating the drums of war against Iran, insisting the country is racing toward a nuclear bomb despite clear denials from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
At a recent UN Security Council meeting, US Ambassador Dorothy Camille Shea sounded the alarm, warning that Iran must be stopped from developing nuclear weapons. Yet IAEA Director Rafael Grossi, the very authority on nuclear monitoring, stated plainly that there is no evidence Tehran is pursuing a bomb. The uranium enrichment reaching 60%—a figure Israel cites as threatening—is still far from the 90% threshold required for a weapon.
Still, Washington refuses to back down. Shea stood firmly behind Israel’s recent airstrikes on Iran, which came shortly after the IAEA report and triggered a volley of Iranian missile and drone retaliation. “We can no longer ignore that Iran has all it needs to build a nuclear weapon, lacking only a decision from its supreme leader,” Shea insisted, ignoring both the IAEA and US intelligence agencies who report no proof of such a program.
Many analysts see this narrative as painfully familiar — a rerun of the prelude to the Iraq invasion in 2003. Back then, President George W. Bush’s administration cited weapons of mass destruction that never existed to justify regime change. This time, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon warns it’s the US “deep state” orchestrating a similar playbook against Iran, pushing a conflict that “came out of nowhere.”
Journalist Steve Coll echoes the comparison, noting how Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has openly called for regime change and urged Iranians to rise up — strikingly reminiscent of George H.W. Bush’s 1991 rhetoric toward Iraq. Yet, as Coll points out, no clear invasion plans exist, just a fog of vague threats and covert actions.
Even amid this mounting tension, cracks appear in Washington’s resolve. Former President Bill Clinton has suggested Netanyahu’s aggressive stance might be less about national security and more about political survival. And in a telling moment at the UN, Ambassador Shea accidentally blamed Israel—not Iran—for “chaos and terror” in the Middle East before quickly correcting herself. Media commentators dubbed it a “Freudian slip” — an unintentional glimpse behind the carefully constructed narrative.
What’s unfolding is more than just a nuclear debate; it’s a dangerous dance of power, misinformation, and shadow agendas. As the world watches, the question looms: Are we witnessing the calm before a storm that could spiral far beyond the Middle East?
