Trump’s Attack on Iran and the Coloniality of the International System
- CERES
- Jun 30
- 3 min read
Gabriela Oliveira Elesbão
On June 22, 2025, the United States, under the leadership of Donald Trump, launched direct attacks on three major Iranian nuclear facilities — Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. The American president described the offensive as a "spectacular success," claiming that the targets were “completely obliterated.” This action represents a critical escalation in the war between Israel and Iran, marking the direct entry of the U.S. into the conflict, and reignites deep questions about the structure and foundations of the international system. From the perspective of decolonial studies, this offensive is more than just a military response: it is a contemporary update of a historically entrenched imperialist pattern.
Authors such as Walter Mignolo and Aníbal Quijano provide crucial tools to understand this dynamic. Quijano highlights the persistence of the “coloniality of power,” in which international relations continue to be marked by hierarchies inherited from colonial domination. The attack on Iran reaffirms this pattern: by acting unilaterally and without international legal backing, the U.S. reasserts its self-proclaimed role as a global arbiter, while denying the sovereignty of a Global South country that insists on exercising its strategic autonomy. Mignolo, for his part, denounces modernity as a project inseparable from its colonial shadow — a modernity that legitimizes violence when carried out by Western powers but criminalizes it when it stems from the logic of peripheral self-determination.
The offensive lays bare the selectivity of the international order. The Western rhetoric of defending peace and international rights is applied unevenly: Iran is treated as a threat for developing its nuclear program, while Israel, which already possesses a nuclear arsenal, is protected and supported. This exposes the double standard of international law and the persistence of a racialized and cultural hierarchy among states. As decolonial authors warn, this is not merely a war between nations, but a clash between worldviews — a hegemony that imposes, through violence, what is deemed legitimate.
By attacking Iranian nuclear facilities, the U.S. strikes not only the country's infrastructure but a symbol of its sovereignty and national project. The justification of “peace through strength,” invoked by Trump and Netanyahu, echoes the old colonial discourse of civilizing through violence. Diplomacy and dialogue have been set aside, while the threat of further bombings looms as blackmail. The message is clear: the international system tolerates the existence of Southern states only as long as they do not challenge the logic and interests of hegemonic powers.
In this scenario, a decolonial response is urgent. It is necessary to recognize Iran as a legitimate political subject, with the right to self-determination and to chart its own path. It is also essential to unmask the false universality of the liberal international order, which continues to operate as an instrument of domination. Today’s attack is not an aberration: it is the consistent expression of an international system structured to guarantee the supremacy of some at the expense of the subordination of others.
True peace, as decolonial thinkers propose, will only be possible when international relations are rebuilt on plural, horizontal, and emancipatory principles — not on bombings, sanctions, and threats. Defending Iran, in this context, is defending the right of Southern peoples to exist outside imperial tutelage and the violence legitimized by civilizational discourses.
The opinions expressed in the text above are the sole responsibility of the author.
Gabriela Eslabão
Historian and Master in International Strategic Studies. My research focuses on Latin America, social movements, and the impacts of neoliberalism on the continent. I am a volunteer at CERES and an education manager.
References:
Financial Times – US bombs nuclear sites in Iran: https://www.ft.com/content/cc5f3407-22ef-4fd4-9825-7810bcea3c5e
Associated Press (AP News) – US intervenes in war between Israel and Iran, striking 3 Iranian nuclear sites: https://apnews.com/article/israel-iran-war-nuclear-talks-geneva-news-06-21-2025-a7b0cdaba28b5817467ccf712d214579
The Guardian – Australia News Live: US bombing of Iran a 'blatant breach of international law', Greens leader says: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/jun/22/australia-news-live-richard-marl es-andrew-hastie-iran-israel-anthony-albanese-penny-wong-coalition-labor-nsw-vic-qld-ntwnfb
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