What global power do we want to police the world? Russia, China or the US - Heather du Plessis-Allan
Just because the airstrikes in Iran may be unlawful, Heather du Plessis-Allan says it does not make Ayatollah Ali Khamenei a victim worth mourning. Photo / Getty Images
THE FACTS
- The US and Israel launched widespread strikes targeting key sites in Iran on February 28.
- Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the first wave of attacks.
- Iran has described the US and Israeli strikes as “unprovoked, illegal and illegitimate”.
Let’s clear something up. The recent – now dead – leaders of Iran are not good guys to be mourned.
It’s remarkable that even needs to be said but it does. British students this week publicly grieved the death of their “beloved” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Some local critics of the airstrikes have got so strident it almost started to sound like they considered Iran a victim of US bullying.
Khamenei was a murderer. Only weeks ago, his regime shot tens of thousands of civilian protesters at point-blank range, aiming at their vital body parts – faces, chests and genitals – to inflict maximum damage. For years, Iran has executed gay men and repressed women.
It has funded proxies such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis to kill people living in the Middle East. It is accused of being behind the firebombing of a Melbourne synagogue and a Sydney cafe 18 months ago.
Despite being responsible for crimes that offend Western values, Iran’s regime has won support in Western countries.
Why? Because Iran’s leaders hate Israel. And to some, any enemy of Israel – no matter how murderous – is a friend.
The Israel bad, Iran good logic is naive. Both can be offenders.
Equally naive is our apparent national default to oppose any US military action in the Middle East.
Granted, there is a strong chance the US may come to regret this. In the short term this has the potential to spiral out of control as more countries are dragged into the conflict. In the medium term it might lead to a bloody civil war in Iran that drives refugees out into surrounding countries and further destabilises the region. In the longer term, whatever replaces the Ayatollahs – assuming there is a regime change – may be worse for the world.
We’ve seen all of this happen before.
There is, however, a (smaller) chance that it ends with an improved situation.
That is an unknown. What is known though is that the current regime was evil intentionally. So, some good has already been done by taking them out.
Which brings us to the legality of the airstrikes, which has preoccupied our national political discussion this week.
Unless evidence is provided to the contrary, it’s fair to assume the airstrikes are unlawful under international law.
But any airstrike was going to be unlawful. The UN’s Security Council would never have authorised strikes. For the past few decades all it has done is pass resolutions and debate how bad Khamenei was.
It is – and always has been – up to global powers, not the UN, to decide when bad actors have to be dealt to.
This is a reality that offends our national respect for the international order. We don’t like the US deciding unilaterally when to break those rules. But that is what global powers do.
They can pick and choose which rules they follow and which they don’t. It is the price we have to pay for their existence.
And they must exist, because there can be no set of rules without someone to enforce them.
Our choice is which global power we’d rather have policing the world. Russia, China or the US.
As angry as we may be at the breach of the rules, and as badly as this may go from here, we remain lucky that the global power doing the enforcing during our lifetimes is still the US.
And just because the airstrikes may be unlawful, it does not make Khamenei a victim worth mourning.
Catch up on the debates that dominated the week by signing up to our Opinion newsletter – a weekly round-up of our best commentary.