President Trump’s decision to order airstrikes on Iran’s three most important nuclear facilities – Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan – represents a defining moment, not just in his political legacy, but for global peace and security.
While it will take days – or weeks – to determine just how long these strikes set back Iran’s nuclear ambitions, there should be no doubt that “Operation Midnight Hammer” was the correct decision.
This is even more correct if the totality of Iran’s retaliation amounts to a performative barrage of missiles at U.S. bases in Qatar and Iraq, a barrage which Iran reportedly warned the U.S. about ahead of time so as to avoid casualties.
To be sure, removing the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran should be seen, first and foremost, as a step to improving America’s national security, not just Israel’s or our other allies in the region.
Indeed, for nearly five decades, the Iranian regime has been the world’s largest sponsor of terrorism and the preeminent cause of unrest in the Middle East, including being responsible for the killing and maiming of thousands of American soldiers.
Had Trump allowed that rogue regime to develop humanity’s most devastating weapon, terrorists across the world would have been free to operate under Iran’s nuclear umbrella, and Tehran would almost certainly have used the weapon on America or its allies.
To that end, Trump restored American deterrence, reinforced his own “red lines,” and showed himself willing to confront a challenge that multiple U.S. Presidents have utterly failed to address.
Similarly, with American and Israeli airstrikes destroying much of Iran’s military and nuclear facilities and Iran’s terrorist proxies already in shambles, there are real opportunities for a more peaceful Middle East.
Moderate Arab countries will now be able to build upon the Abraham Accords and develop a more prosperous region, free from the dangers of a nuclear armed Iran.
While not Trump’s, nor Israel’s explicit goal, its possible this could even produce a new regime in Tehran, one which wants to positively contribute to the future of the Middle East.
Further, Trump and Israel have dealt a tremendous blow to the Russia-Iran-China-North Korea “axis of evil.” None of Iran’s supposed friends have offered anything more than verbal support despite the devastating blows the regime has suffered.
Plainly, the Iranian issue was Trump’s Churchill moment, where he must decide whether to use force in order to ultimately make the world a safer place, Trump rose the occasion.
In doing so, Trump had to overcome detractors, increasingly including those within his own party.
The small but extremely vocal isolationist contingent within the GOP, personified by Reps. Thomas Massie and Marjorie Taylor Greene, as well as Tucker Carlson, expressed their discontent over the strikes, arguing that they’re out of line with an “America First” agenda.
In no uncertain terms, the isolationists are wrong.
Beginning with the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979, where regime supporters held 52 American diplomats hostage for 444 days, and up to Iranian-backed attacks on U.S. soldiers in Iraq, the Iranian regime’s hands are stained with American blood.
Moreover, history has shown that when America retreats behind its two ocean walls, autocratic regimes tend to fill that void and eventually threaten the United States.
Put another way, global peace and security is greatly enhanced when America’s deterrence factor is well understood by those seeking to upend the world-order.
For their part, the American people understand the gravity of the threat posed by a nuclear armed Iran, making Trump’s decision the correct political one, in addition to being correct on moral, security, and geopolitical grounds.
Recent polling by my firm, Schoen Cooperman Research, on behalf of Israel on Campus Coalition (ICC) found that more than 8-in-10 (83%) Americans believe it is important to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
A virtually identical 82% of Americans also say that a nuclear-armed Iran poses a serious threat to America’s national security.
These findings are backed up by public polling as well.
Nearly three-quarters (74%) of Americans approve of “Trump’s position that Iran must be prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons by any means necessary” according to Insider Advantage polling.
In that same vein, underscoring how out of the GOP mainstream Massie, Greene, and Carlson are, two-thirds (65%) of self-described “MAGA Republicans” say they back U.S. strikes on Iran per J.L. partners and New York Post polling.
Interestingly, MAGA Republicans were even more supportive than Republicans as a whole, 58% of whom approve of preemptively striking Iran, versus 25% who disapprove, the same poll shows.
Predictably, the political left has come out in full force against Trump’s decision. Some, such as progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes have even argued that this is grounds for impeachment.
It is telling that many of these same voices were no where to be found when former Presidents Obama and Biden launched extended military campaigns without Congressional authorization, yet are infuriated now.
Most ironic of all is the outcry among the foreign policy establishment of the Obama and Biden administrations, chief among those Ben Rhodes.
Rhodes, a former Deputy National Security Advisor under Obama slammed Trump’s strikes for endangering the world, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the only reason the U.S. needed to attack Iran was because of Obama’s total failure to address the issue.
To be clear, this is not to dismiss the dangers of Iran’s likely retaliation. Roughly 40,000 American troops in the Gulf are in the crosshairs of Iran’s response, and its possible that a performative barrage aimed at Qatar and Iraq is not the full extent of Iran’s response.
There are also reports that Iran may activate sleeper cells of terrorists across the world.
Related Articles
Trump plunges America into Iran War quagmire Without principles, Trump can’t stop flip-flopping Rafael Perez: America is trapped in a dangerous hysteria spiral Doug McIntyre: A Republic, if we can keep it The real national emergency: Endless wars, failing infrastructure, and a dying republic Yet those dangers and the very nature of the Iranian regime underscore why these strikes were so necessary.A regime that has sponsored and deployed terrorist cells throughout American cities and vows to destroy the United States is a danger, but if that regime has nuclear weapons, it is an existential danger.
True, the cost of Trump acting may be high. But the cost of doing nothing and allowing the marriage of nuclear weapons with a radical Islamic regime would be far, far higher.
Ultimately, President Trump deserves a considerable amount of credit. Whatever one may think of him or some of his policies, there should be room to applaud his decision which, for now at least, has made the world a much safer place.
Or, as Andrew Roberts described it in The Free Press, “Counterintuitively, perhaps, President Trump would never deserve the Nobel Peace Prize more than if he destroyed Iran’s capacity for nuclear blackmail.”
Douglas Schoen is a longtime Democratic political consultant. Saul Mangel is a vice president at Schoen Cooperman Research.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( In striking Iran, President Trump rose to the occasion )
Also on site :