The United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Saturday (February 28). In response, Iran said it carried out retaliatory attacks targeting Israel and a US military facility in Bahrain. Explosions were also reported in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Qatar and Kuwait as tensions escalated across the region. Lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar has now given his statement on the conflict and said that both Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu have behaved like ‘bullies’. (Also read: Nargis Fakhri battles sleepless nights in Dubai amid US-Iran conflict: ‘This feeling of anxiety and dread…’)
What Javed said
Taking to his X account on March 2, Javed wrote, “I think this time trump and Israel have over played there hand because if they are allowed to get away with this audacity and do an Iraq to Iran China will lose her total credibility in the world . Netanyahu and Trump like all the bullies have pushed others to the wall and ultimately left no choice to others but to react in a decisive manner.”
US-Israel-Iran conflict
Meanwhile, Iran has vowed to avenge the death of its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed by Israeli strikes during the joint US-Israel military operation last week. After confirming Khamenei’s death on Sunday, Iran carried out retaliatory strikes across the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain, escalating West Asia tensions further.
The death toll across West Asia has increased. In Iran, Iranian state media, citing the Red Crescent, said at least 201 people have been killed and more than 700 injured in the ongoing strikes. Of this around 115 were killed in Minab when a girls’ school was targeted by the US, Israel military strike.
Meanwhile, three American service members were killed and five others seriously injured during the US attacks on Iran, the US military announced on Sunday.
In a post on social media, Trump said that reports Iran was planning to respond “very hard” were being closely watched, but he cautioned: “They better not do that, however, because if they do, we will hit them with a force that has never been seen before!” The American naval base in Kuwait’s Abdullah Mubarak area was struck by four ballistic missiles and twelve drones, destroying all infrastructure and causing significant casualties among US personnel, according to a statement from the IRGC.
