A week ago, US President Donald Trump’s position on the current war in the Gulf pointed in two opposite directions. One was hell, in the form of a new ultimatum to the government in Tehran. The people he had killed and the urban destruction he had caused were just the beginning; he would “wipe out” the entire Iranian power grid, depriving Iranians of electricity for lighting, refrigeration and all other requirements of modern life.
In short, he vowed to erase the past and present of Iranian civilisation. Iran was no less harsh in its response, threatening to continue with criminal strikes against the Arab Gulf states and destroy the civilisational capacities they have built over the past few decades. Israel, meanwhile, continued to indulge in its favourite hobby of occupying Lebanon, displacing a million of its inhabitants.
The hell created by the “Fourth Gulf War” encompassed not just the Middle East, but the entire world. No country or region has been left unscathed. Economic forecasters predict continued rises in oil prices and further disruptions in global trade. They warn of a looming recession – another kind of hell, which can fuel extremely volatile international tensions. Recall that some of the causes of World War II have been traced to the Great Depression that began in 1929.
In an odd counterpoint to all the vituperation threatening fire and brimstone and the death of Iranian civilisation, the second direction in which Trump pointed was heaven. The US launched the Artemis on an exploratory mission around the moon. In 1967, 113 countries signed the Outer Space Treaty, including the US, Russia, and China. The US and Russia had already made their first forays into space, and the race was underway over which of them would be the first to reach the moon. To avoid conflict, Articles 1 and 2 of the treaty stated that exploration of outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, would be carried out “for the benefit and in the interest of all countries”. The treaty drew on terrestrial precedents that regarded seas and oceans outside territorial waters (later amended to exclusive economic zones) as the common heritage of humankind.
The treaty led to the establishment of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs, tasked with dealing with space debris, mechanisms for resolving disputes, matters related to the security and rescue of spacecraft and personnel, and the registration of space activities. Another treaty was concluded in 1979, called the Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies. By this time, the world had changed quite a bit, and none of the major spacefaring powers ratified it.
Today, space is no longer the stuff of cinema or science fiction. The “conquest of space” is a reality, and international competition to this end is no less fierce than that on earth. “Contractors” are eying prospects for colonising Mars, and China plans to establish a nuclear-powered base on the moon. Instead of joining the permanent International Space Station, China has opted to build its own station, scheduled for completion in 2028. Both Washington and Moscow are also pursuing their own separate stations, now that the International Space Station, launched in 1998, has exceeded its intended lifespan. NASA plans to build a permanent base on the moon by 2030, and the Artemis mission is part of this project.
As states race to reach the moon, they are rushing headlong on a different trajectory in the Iranian war, or what some have called the War of Hormuz – a conflict focused on a strait that has tightened into a stranglehold, not only on the countries of the Gulf or even the Middle East, but the entire world.
If God Almighty created the human soul with a capacity for both good and evil, the images and ultimatums in the Fourth Gulf War speak of an inferno as a destination and a Trumpian form of warning. The planet appears torn between the rush of reports on the US-Israel axis and Iran hunkering down for more war, on the one hand and, on the other, news of efforts to promote a truce lasting longer than two weeks, during which the Strait of Hormuz could be reopened.
Meanwhile, people across the globe are at a loss for answers as to what has become of the so-called Board of Peace, which was supposed to resolve the still ongoing war on Gaza. They are also worried about the impact of the trade war between the US and China, and they are wondering whether the Cold War between US and Russia might return, or whether the world has changed irreversibly. The race continues between the human propensity for malice, which breeds war and harm to others, and the moral impulse, whose mission is to make life bloom, not just on earth but all across the universe.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 16 April, 2026 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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