By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
Well-known geo-strategist and columnist Brahma Chellaney has said the war on Iran has little to do with nuclear or missile proliferation or state-sponsored terrorism.
“If those were the real concerns, the more obvious U.S. target would be Pakistan: a declared nuclear-armed state with an estimated 170+ warheads; a country that U.S. intelligence assesses is developing intercontinental-range ballistic missile capabilities that could reach the United States; and one whose state-backed terror networks have been linked to major transnational terrorist attacks, including in the West,” Chellaney said in a social media post. “The principal architects of 9/11 were ultimately found in Pakistan, among them Osama bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed,” he said.
He said Iran, by contrast, remains a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and, although it enriched uranium up to 60% (just below the 90% weapons-grade level), is still widely assessed to be far away from building a functional nuclear weapon. Yet Washington has chosen to wage war on Tehran while effectively mollycoddling Pakistan — justifying its actions with claims that Iran poses an existential threat to the U.S.
The logic of this war is therefore geopolitical, not defensive. It is about reshaping the regional balance of power, installing a pliable regime in Tehran, and weakening Iran’s network of regional influence. Control over the Strait of Hormuz — through which roughly a fifth of the world’s traded oil passes — and the broader project of rolling back Iran’s strategic reach are integral to this regime-change agenda, he said.