By Husam Dughman
Following the initiation of strikes by Israel and the US against the Islamic Republic of Iran on the 28th of February 2026, the BBC published an article by its international editor Jeremy Bowen in which he describes the US-Israel attack as a war of choice, rather than a preemptive war as described by Israel. The reason which he gives for his view is that Iran did not pose an imminent threat to Israel or the US. Yet, according to Cambridge Dictionary, the meaning of the verb preempt is “to prevent something from happening by taking action first.” Others such as The Britannica Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries, and Collins Dictionary state the same thing, with no reference to any “imminence.” That is not the only thing the BBC got wrong.
- Husam Dughman
- International Security, Safety & Strategic Defence
- Posted On
