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Jawad Khalid

As with any conflict, the war in Iran has driven people to choose sides and adopt partisan positions. This includes the view that, despite the acts of aggression by the US and Israel, the Islamic Republic somehow “deserves” the attacks due to years of regional instability caused by its Axis of Resistance.
This is not to suggest that the Iranian regime has always been a victim. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ transgressions through the Quds Force have been well documented.
But let’s be honest about what we are witnessing. This is realpolitik. This is how states operate within the paradigm of realism in international relations: the selfish and often ruthless protection and projection of national interests. From a humanitarian perspective, this is deeply troubling. Realism is no friend of human welfare. Its only consistent outcome is the erosion of human life and dignity in pursuit of strategic gain.
Yet, to single out Iran for pursuing its interests and justify foreign aggression and attacks on its soil as a form of punishment for its strategic behaviour is intellectually inconsistent. If we accept realism as the framework, then it must be applied universally, not selectively.
Meanwhile, Iran’s actions against its adversaries and US-aligned states in the region, particularly Arab states, have also contributed to the instability. Many would argue that countries like the United Arab Emirates, and others, deserve retaliation for their past conduct. But in targeting these states, Iran has created real and immediate consequences that extend far beyond governments and elites.
Oil production has plummeted throughout the Persian Gulf. The Strait of Hormuz has been disrupted. Oil shipments have been delayed or blocked, sending ripples through global markets.

But these macro-level disruptions translate into deeply human consequences. Workers, both local and migrant, and low-income households bear the brunt. Jobs are at stake. Many are stranded, unable to return home. And even if they do, they return to uncertainty, without livelihoods to sustain them.
The human toll cuts across borders. In Iran, more than 1,400 civilians have been killed, with strikes hitting schools and residential blocks. In Lebanon, the civilian death toll stands at over 1,000, while Israeli towns have also suffered civilian casualties from Iranian missiles. In the Gulf, refinery workers are likely to face sudden unemployment as operations are halted.
Perhaps a strong parallel can be drawn closer to home with Pakistan’s recent aerial bombardments on Afghanistan in the escalating border conflict. Since late February, these strikes, part of operations ostensibly targeting the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), have resulted in the killing of at least 70 Afghan civilians, according to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. No high-profile TTP leaders have been confirmed killed in these operations. Instead, it remains unclear what the precise targets were, with reports of missiles hitting residential areas and civilian infrastructure.
It is true that the Taliban government has failed to curb cross-border terror attacks by the TTP from Afghan soil. It has also not taken decisive action against the group despite Islamabad’s repeated requests. Moreover, attacks in Pakistan have surged and the country was the most affected by terrorism globally in 2025, recording 1,139 deaths, according to the latest Global Terrorism Index. However, we must be careful not to let military might blind us from how escalation affects people on the ground.

Before drawing firm conclusions about these strikes, it is worth considering that such actions may not fully achieve their stated objectives and could risk unintended consequences.
Above all, we must wake up to the reality that human blood is being spilled. And every human life must matter to us. We must not reduce the victims to mere numbers and statistics. Whether it was 50 people killed last week or 10 killed today, these deaths become abstract figures, distant and cold, stripped of their humanity.
Those of us sitting in the comfort of our homes cannot truly grasp the full horror of war, unless we have endured the trauma – the bombs raining down, missiles streaking across the skies, buildings crumbling, infrastructure collapsing and the sudden loss of lives and dignity. Empathy has become too scarce a commodity.
Many of us are buried in apathy and antipathy, lost in our phones – scrolling past videos of collapsing structures and exploding oil terminals one moment, only to swipe to lip-synch dances or celebrity gossip the next. We are numb, desensitised by digital slop that turns human suffering into fleeting content.

We must wake up and reclaim our humanity. In a world numbed by consumerism, social media and the constant churn of information, even human suffering risks becoming something we scroll past without a second thought.
And this is perhaps the greatest danger of all.
In the cold logic of realpolitik and ruthless pragmatism, human life and welfare are always the first and biggest casualties. We must not lose our humanity in the current war frenzy and avoid being sucked in by partisan narratives. We must not become indifferent to the loss of human life and the destruction of cities. And we must remember that, it may be “them” today, but it could easily be “us” tomorrow.
Above all, we must remember that realism offers no winners – only survivors counting their dead. If we allow this war to strip us of empathy, we will have lost something far more precious than any strategic advantage.


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War and conflict

How selective outrage over Iran war exposes the limits of realpolitik

People hurry past damaged residential buildings in southern Tehran, on March 27. Photo: EPA

Workers sit on a wall against the backdrop of the city skyline in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, on March 11. Photo: AFP

A man wounded in what Afghan authorities said was cross-border shelling from Pakistan receives treatment at a hospital in Khost, Afghanistan, on March 16. Photo: EPA

Mourners wave Iranian flags during the funeral procession for senior Iranian military officials and civilians killed during the US-Israel campaign, in Tehran, on March 11. Photo: AP

Why Middle East volatility presents an enhanced risk for South Asia

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif hug after signing a defence pact, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on September 17, 2025. Photo: Reuters

China’s Executive Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Ma Zhaoxu and Vikram Misri, India’s foreign secretary, met in New Delhi last month. Photo: Handout

Iran war nears 3-front tipping point as Gulf energy hubs burn

Smoke and fire rise near the South Pars gas field following an attack amid the US-Israeli war on Iran, on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

Israeli troops and tanks are seen at a staging area in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon on Wednesday. Photo: Xinhua

An oil tanker navigates the Red Sea near the entrance of the Suez Canal on March 11. Photo: Xinhua

A page on the Marine Traffic website shows commercial marine traffic on the edge of the Strait of Hormuz near the Iranian coast earlier this month. Photo: AFP/Getty Images/TNS

Houthi security forces stand guard during an anti-Israel and anti-US rally in Sanaa, Yemen. Photo: AFP/Getty Images/TNS

Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment on southern Lebanon near the border on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

Gulf states again under fire as Iran says still building missiles

The fragment of a missile fired from Iran, and intercepted by Israel, sticks out in an open field in Israel-controlled Golan Heights. Photo: AP

Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery in Kuwait on Friday. Photo: AP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday. Photo: Reuters

Ras Laffan Industrial City in Qatar on February 25. It came under Iranian attack on Thursday. Photo: EPA

Israel launches strikes on Iran with no sign of diplomatic breakthrough

Iranian missiles in a park in Tehran, for show. Photo: West Asia News Agency

Rocket trails are seen in the sky amid a fresh barrage of Iranian missile attacks above the Israeli coastal city of Netanya. Photo: AFP

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From Iran to Afghanistan, the cold logic of ruthless pragmatism ensures human life and welfare are always the biggest casualties


From Iran to Afghanistan, the cold logic of ruthless pragmatism ensures human life and welfare are always the biggest casualties.


Iran

US-Israel war on Iran

United States

Israel

United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Afghanistan

Pakistan

Lebanon

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


How selective outrage over Iran war exposes the limits of realpolitik

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}From Iran to Afghanistan, the cold logic of ruthless pragmatism ensures human life and welfare are always the biggest casualties

From Iran to Afghanistan, the cold logic of ruthless pragmatism ensures human life and welfare are always the biggest casualties