I feel as if we are in a slow-motion crash in which we can see what’s coming, but are already in “mid-flight” and cannot do anything to stop it.

Yes, I am talking about the war in the Middle East in which the United States and Israel first attacked Iran on February 28 and now 11 countries are under attack, whether in a one-off strike or daily bombing, and the global economy, again, is on edge.

I feel we are in a slow-motion crash because about nine months ago Israel attacked Iran, justifying its actions as pre-empting Iran’s making of a nuclear bomb. Israel attacked Iran’s underground facilities where uranium was being enriched, as part of the stages of making a nuclear warhead, and where, Israel said, other components necessary for a nuclear bomb were being assembled.

In the June 2025 attacks, Israel also targeted and killed military leaders and scientists whom Israel said were linked to Iran’s nuclear program. The US joined in towards the end of what is now referred to as the 12-day war, using bombs that can penetrate deep underground bunkers to ensure the facilities Iran had built in the earth’s depths were destroyed.

After 12 days of war, US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Iran’s nuclear programme was obliterated.

But Trump and Netanyahu cannot be taken at their word. 

On February 28, they, again, ordered attacks on Iran to, again, destroy its nuclear program. That was one reason given for the attacks that continue to date. Another reason given for the attacks, more from the Israeli side than the US, is overthrowing the government of Iran.

To this end, on the first day of the attacks, the US and Israel targeted and killed Iran’s head of state, final decision-maker and spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Defence Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh, and the Commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Mohammed Pakpour, the latter having been on the job only nine months following the killing of his predecessor in the June attack. 

Other top military and security leaders killed were Ali Shamkhani, a former Secretary of Iran’s National Security Council (he was targeted in but survived the June attack); Armed Forces Chief of Staff Abdul Rahim Mousavi (who had been on the job only nine months as his predecessor was killed in June’s attack); Head of the Military Bureau Mohammed Shirazi; and Intelligence chief Salah Asadi.

And yet, here we are, more than two weeks into the attack on Iran with no sign that the Iranian government is about to be overthrown.

Instead, more than 2,000 civilians have been killed in eight countries; about 12,000 civilians have been injured in Iran and Lebanon and an estimated 4 million civilians displaced in Iran and Lebanon. This is a terrible human toll as the US and Israel continue giving conflicting reasons for attacking Iran.

Despite the assassinations of Iran’s top political, spiritual, military and intelligence leaders, the surviving leadership, however, has continued to implement a strategy it had adopted after last June’s war. At the time, Iran said if Israel or the US attacked it again, it would widen such a war to include its Arab neighbours and choke a key route for an estimated 20 percent of the world’s oil supply, the Strait of Hormuz.

To be clear, Iran’s leaders are not innocent. In January, they oversaw the killing of thousands of Iranians whose protest against the rising cost of living and business quickly turned into a protest against the government as demonstrations grew in size and spread across the country.

Here in Kenya, it seems the war in the Middle East will not affect us the way it is affecting many parts of the world, at least not yet.

In Britain and Nigeria, the price of fuel has reportedly risen by 20 percent. Sri Lanka has instituted a four-day work week to reduce fuel consumption in the country. In Kenya, our monthly fuel price review on March 15 saw no price change. The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority justified its decision for keeping fuel prices steady for the next month on its observation that the fuel supply in the country had been bought at a price lower than those we are currently seeing on the global markets.

EPRA may be simply delaying the inevitable shock. It is possible by April 15, the war will have stopped and the yo-yoing of crude oil prices may have also stopped. Unfortunately, the only thing we know for sure is that the US and Israel do not have a plan for what’s next.

Now do you see why I feel as if we are in a slow-motion crash in which we can see what’s coming, but we are already in “mid-flight” and cannot do anything to stop it?