Euroviews. This is who lit the match in the Middle East — and who poured the fuel

As the world pores over the intricate details of hostage releases, trucks of humanitarian aid or even dimensions of Hamas' tunnels, we are in serious danger of missing the wood for the trees.

The ongoing multi-front Iranian attack on Israel by Hezbollah in the north, Hamas in the centre and Houthis in the south, has been minimised and rebranded as a Hamas-Israel war. 

But the actual wood is even wider.

The announcement of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, or IMEC, just weeks prior was what actually triggered the 7 October attacks.

Unsettling the Russia-China-Iran axis sparked the regional Middle Eastern conflict, which now threatens to spread into a global war.

Three main pieces of evidence point in this direction, despite the continued denial by the various parties.

Let’s start with US foreign policy over the past few years. It is widely known that the Biden administration has not been the biggest admirer of Mohammed Bin Salman, or MBS, the de-facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, since the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. 

It is also common knowledge that the Biden administration has openly shunned the current Netanyahu government. Yet, despite these limitations, Biden has invested huge military, economic and diplomatic efforts in promoting the normalisation of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Indeed, the three months leading up to 7 October saw an increasing chorus of US, Saudi and Israeli leaders openly discussing an impending peace treaty. 

Secondly, in March 2023, China surprised the world and brokered a peace treaty between Iran and Saudi Arabia. After decades of enmity and a formal cutting of ties in 2016, this treaty was touted as a momentous development in the region. 

But more surprising than