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The first two weeks of the Israeli-American assault on Iran have generated enormous amounts of news, propaganda and speculation. Politicians and pundits on all sides have offered contradictory information and analyses that have obscured realities on the ground and overloaded the global public.

As the conflict enters its third week, careful observation can still identify new and critical dynamics that could shape its outcome, the future of the Middle East, and perhaps global confrontations and conditions. They are all new realities that feed into each other to create this destructive moment.

First, the scope of this war has expanded military clashes to more than a dozen states in the region while also entangling countries around the world who assist either side. The global array of states involved in this war is unprecedented. It shatters the assumption that countries can be safe if they stay out of the fighting. That was made clear when Iran decided to attack Gulf states, Iraq and Jordan for hosting US military bases and Cyprus and Turkiye for hosting US and British forces.

Second, the direct impact of the war has rattled most of the world through oil and gas shortages, shipping constraints, higher prices and the prospect of an economic recession. No country can insulate itself from the impacts of the war, whether at the level of the economy or basic family security in foodstuffs, medicines and household energy needs.

Third, the duration of the Israeli-US war on Iran will determine its long-term impacts regionally and globally. The aggressors from Washington and Tel Aviv hoped for a quick and decisive victory. They assumed they could kill and topple the Iranian leadership within a few days but have failed to achieve that after 14 days of unrelenting attacks. Iran and its allies seek a lengthy war that bleeds the attackers’ military capabilities and political endurance and compels them to cease fire and stop trying to turn the entire Middle East into a flaccid collection of supplicants and vassals.

Fourth, the ideological underpinnings of the conflict are just as important as geopolitical realities. Israel and the US are the torchbearers of the last Western settler-colonial campaign in the region, which enabled Zionism to dispossess the indigenous Palestinians and now attempt to assert hegemonic military and economic dominance over everyone else in the region. The Iranians and their allies want instead to check and reverse the colonial onslaught that has plagued virtually every Middle Eastern country since the 19th century and that remains militarily active today.

Fifth, the nature of this war demonstrates we have entered a new age of warfare. The US and Israeli militaries use their superior air and satellite assets to destroy military, industrial and civilian facilities in a brutal aerial campaign. With vastly more limited resources and firepower, Iran and its allies have developed technological and logistical innovations that severely limit the impact of the air assault against them and allow them to continue fighting.

Iran’s use of sophisticated but relatively cheap technology has helped it penetrate US-built air defences worth millions of dollars. Its evasive drones and hypersonic missiles have allowed it to overload and weaken defence systems, such as the Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, and hit many targets. There has been extensive damage even in Israel, which boasts the most advanced “Iron Dome” technology and is forced to heavily censor its own media and citizens to hide its weaknesses.

Sixth, Iran has learned important lessons from the last century of Western-Zionist assaults on any party that has tried to resist them. Tehran survived the assassination of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and dozens of other leaders in the first days of the war, transitioned its top leadership, and continues to resist and fire back against foes. It has clearly recognised the importance of a decentralised system of warfare: planned leadership successions, durable command and control systems, dispersed weapons manufacturing and storage facilities, and hidden launch platforms for missiles, drones, maritime weapons and other critical assets.

Seventh, the full consequences of the war to date cannot be accurately assessed because complete damage information is not available in most cases. That will come later. But we can see that the attacks by all sides since the US-Israeli opening assault have continued to ignore provisions of international law that should protect civilian areas, essential infrastructure and cultural sites in times of war. The sheer indiscriminate savagery of many of the attacks, especially against civilians, has been shocking. This should come as no surprise, given the horrors of the ongoing US-Israeli genocide in Gaza and Israel’s threats to turn parts of Iran and Lebanon into Gaza-like wastelands.

Finally, the war has demonstrated that Arab states’ reliance on the US for protection has failed to keep them safe. Having spent trillions of dollars in the past half-century buying sophisticated weapons systems and hosting US bases, many Arab capitals now see little or no return on this investment. They will all have to assess how they can overcome this big void in their capability and sovereignty and how they can recalibrate their defence strategies and diplomatic focus.

All of these dynamics are interlinked, and they all point in the same direction: Palestine. The war in Iran is yet another manifestation of the inherent regional and global instability that the unresolved Israeli-Palestinian conflict has produced for more than 75 years.

Stability and peace will not be achieved until a just solution to the conflict is reached. Until then, Arabs, Iranians and Israelis will continue to live in conflict and fear while people across the world will suffer the rippling effects of the century-old battle between Zionism, Arabism and anticolonial resistance across the Global South – in the many realms that have been clarified in the past two weeks.

Former Japanese footballer Keisuke Honda says he has lost an advertising deal in the United States after voicing support for the Iranian national team’s participation in the upcoming FIFA World Cup.

Without naming the sponsor, Honda revealed on Saturday that an advertisement from a US-based company had been “put on hold” after he posted on X that he wants Iran to compete in the tournament cohosted by the US, Mexico and Canada.

“I know it’s a very sensitive thing, but I personally want them to participate in the World Cup,” the 39-year-old wrote in a tweet on Thursday, a day after Iran’s sports minister said the country cannot take part in the World Cup after the US and Israel launched a war on it and killed its supreme leader.

Honda, who represented Japan from 2008 to 2018 and scored 38 international goals for his country, posted a follow-up tweet in which he indicated that the advertisement, which had been expected to be finalised in time for the World Cup, had been shelved due to his earlier post.

“Apparently, this statement caused a US company to cancel an advertisement that was about to be finalised to coincide with the World Cup,” he wrote.

“We don’t want anything to do with companies that ignore the essence of things and make decisions based on rotten thinking.”

Iran’s place at the 48-team tournament is in doubt even after they qualified because of the US-Israeli attacks that began on February 28, following which Tehran responded by launching waves of missiles and drones at Israel, several military bases in the Middle East where US forces operate and infrastructure in the region.

The 23rd edition of the FIFA World Cup will be held in the three host nations from June 11 to July 19, and all of Iran’s group games have been scheduled at venues on the US West Coast.

The former Samurai Blue represented his country at the 2010, 2014 and 2018 World Cups and is among the top 10 most capped players and top five goal scorers for the Asian giants.

Honda was named the most valuable player in Japan’s title-winning run at the Asian Cup in 2011. After representing 11 clubs across five continents, the attacking midfielder hung up his boots in 2024 and switched to coaching.

The golden-haired player enjoys a hero-like status in his home country and is one of Japan’s most recognised international footballers.

He expressed his opinion on Team Melli’s participation amid heightened tensions between the host nation US and Iran.

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that it would not be appropriate for Iran to participate in the World Cup.

“The Iran National Soccer Team is welcome to The World Cup, but I really don’t believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety,” Trump wrote in a social media post without elaborating.

The Instagram account for the Iranian national team quickly responded to Trump’s remarks, questioning whether the US president should be commenting on team participation.

“The World Cup is a historic and international event, and its governing body is FIFA – not any individual country,” it wrote.

The account also criticised Trump for failing to provide adequate security for Iran’s national football players.

“Certainly, no one can exclude Iran’s national team from the World Cup,” the message continued. “The only country that could be excluded is one that merely carries the title of ‘host’ yet lacks the ability to provide security for the teams participating in this global event.”