Recent analyses have increasingly examined the nature of the indirect confrontation between the United States and the Israeli occupation on one side, and Iran on the other. This confrontation unfolds within a conflict framework that relies on multiple political, economic, security, and technological tools, away from direct conventional warfare, amid warnings of regional and international consequences resulting from the continuation of this approach.
Writers Jeffrey D. Sachs and Sybil Fares affirmed in a report published by Common Dreams that the question regarding Iran is no longer whether the United States and Israel will launch an attack, but rather when such an attack will occur. This comes as both parties rely on what they described as a strategy of hybrid warfare instead of full scale military confrontation.
The writers noted that in the nuclear era, the United States avoids engaging in large scale conventional wars due to the risks of nuclear escalation. Instead, in coordination with Israel, it wages a multi tool war against Iran. This includes harsh economic sanctions, limited military strikes, cyber attacks, the stoking of internal unrest, and continuous media disinformation campaigns, collectively known as hybrid warfare.
The report added that what it described as the deep state in both the United States and Israel has come to rely systematically on this type of warfare. It pointed out that the Central Intelligence Agency and the Israeli Mossad, in cooperation with military contractors and security agencies, have played central roles in igniting conflicts and chaos across several countries in Africa and the Middle East, including Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Yemen.
According to the writers, the results of these policies over more than twenty five years have included widespread destruction, the disruption of economic development, the spread of terrorism, and rising waves of mass displacement, without achieving security stability or lasting alliances for either the United States or Israel. They stressed that the outcome has been chaos and large scale human suffering.
The report also indicated that these policies coincide with American efforts to undermine the United Nations Charter, despite Washington being among its principal architects after the Second World War. The Charter clearly stipulates abstention from the use of force against other states, a principle violated by the practices of hybrid warfare.
The writers asserted that the primary beneficiary of these wars is what they termed the digital military industrial complex in the United States and Israel. Technology and military companies, including Palantir, generate massive profits from developing artificial intelligence supported assassination algorithms. They recalled the warning issued in 1961 by former US President Dwight D. Eisenhower regarding the dangers posed by the influence of the military industrial complex.
The report added that recent weeks have witnessed the escalation of two simultaneous hybrid wars in both Venezuela and Iran. It explained that both projects trace their roots to the CIA and have recently seen heightened escalation likely to produce further chaos and instability.
The writers noted that the United States pursues two main objectives in Venezuela: control over the vast oil reserves of the Orinoco Belt and the overthrow of the leftist government that has ruled the country since 1999. They explained that the hybrid war against Caracas effectively began in 2002 with support for a coup attempt against the late President Hugo Chavez.
After the coup failed, Washington escalated its tools by imposing economic sanctions, seizing Venezuelan assets, and obstructing oil production. Despite this, it did not succeed in toppling the government. The report noted that US President Donald Trump later intensified measures through the bombing of Caracas, attempts to abduct President Nicolas Maduro, and the imposition of a naval blockade, actions the report described as ongoing acts of war.
In the same context, the writers pointed out that these policies intersect with Israeli interests. Israel seeks the overthrow of the Venezuelan government due to its support for the Palestinian cause and its close relations with Iran. The report noted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the American attack on Venezuela as an ideal operation.
The report affirmed that the United States and Israel are simultaneously escalating their hybrid war against Iran, anticipating the continuation of sabotage operations, assassinations, and air strikes. It warned that this trajectory carries the risk of transforming into a regional or global war, prompting even Washington’s allies in the Gulf to intensify diplomatic efforts to deter Trump from military action.
The writers traced the roots of the US conflict with Iran back to 1953, when the CIA and British intelligence service MI6 supported the overthrow of Iran’s democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh following his nationalisation of oil. This was followed by US support for the Shah until his fall in 1979, and the subsequent cycle of ongoing tensions.
The report added that the US Israeli objective is to keep Iran under permanent economic and diplomatic pressure while undermining any negotiated settlement that could normalise its international status. It stressed that Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear agreement in 2016 marked a pivotal moment in this path.
The writers concluded by emphasising that the best hope for halting these policies lies in a collective stance by the rest of the world within the United Nations. Such a stance would reject hybrid wars, unilateral sanctions, the weaponisation of the dollar, and violations of international law. They noted that peoples, including the American public, do not support these policies but face difficulty in making their voices heard.
