More than six weeks after he vowed that \u201chelp is on its way\u201d for Iranians who were being gunned down in their thousands for again protesting the regime, Trump promised Iranians, as the attack began, that \u201cthe hour of your freedom is at hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Well aware of domestic opposition, including from within his own base, he framed the attack as essential to protecting America \u2014 declaring that the regime\u2019s \u201cmenacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas, and our allies throughout the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
And he indicated the firm intention to deprive the ayatollahs of all their essential assets.<\/p>\n
He cited the regime\u2019s sponsorship of terror, including the Hamas-led October 7 massacre in southern Israel, and promised, \u201cWe are going to ensure that the region\u2019s terrorist proxies can no longer destabilize the region or the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
He promised to destroy Iran\u2019s missiles and \u201craze\u201d its missile industry. He swore to \u201cannihilate their navy.\u201d And he vowed to \u201censure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon. It\u2019s a very simple message. They will never have a nuclear weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his own first remarks, issued, doubtless by agreement, a short while after Trump had released his video statement, Israel\u2019s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu similarly underlined that this is an operation designed \u201cto remove the existential threat\u201d posed by the Islamic Republic, and \u201ccreate the conditions\u201d for Iranians to change their destiny.<\/p>\n
Trump had made clear in recent days that he was \u201cnot happy\u201d with the progress of last-ditch negotiations with Iran \u2014 initially aimed to ensure it had no route to the bomb, and ultimately to also tackle its missile program and proxies \u2014 and that \u201csometimes\u201d you have to use force. The weeks of gradual amassing of forces could have left little doubt for the regime that the US was preparing for war.<\/p>\n
There may have been elements within the regime leadership that advised a more conciliatory approach to the negotiations, rather than the repeated insistence on an ostensible right to enrich uranium and on limiting the initial talks solely to the nuclear program. If so, the obdurate line evidently prevailed.<\/p>\n
It may well be that the regime doubted that Trump would follow through on his threats of military action, amid the domestic pressures and his own oft-stated desire to stop wars, not start them. It may have concluded that it would be better to absorb an American-Israeli strike than to humiliate and weaken itself by accepting the demands being put to it. It may be believed that it can survive this conflict, too, and emerge more or less intact, with the US and Israel revealed as strategically ineffectual.<\/p>\n
As of this writing, it has opted to widen the fighting, striking at US bases in US-allied states in the region and, naturally, targeting Israel. Soon, we will see whether its various proxies will join the fighting.<\/p>\n
The question is whether this time will be different \u2014 whether, as Trump put it, a regime that \u201chas chanted \u2018Death to America\u2019 and waged an unending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder targeting the United States, our troops and the innocent people in many, many countries,\u201d is now about to fall.<\/p>\n
One difference since last June, of course, is that the regime \u201cjust recently killed tens of thousands of its own citizens on the street as they protested,\u201d as Trump noted on Saturday. Where former presidents Obama and Biden failed to come to the aid of the Iranian people, this US president is giving every indication that he will do what he can to enable them to take control of their country.<\/p>\n
\u201cStay sheltered. Don\u2019t leave your home. It\u2019s very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere,\u201d he told Iranians. But \u201cwhen we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo president was willing to do what I am willing to do tonight,\u201d he went on. \u201cNow you have a president who is giving you what you want\u2026 Now is the time to seize control of your destiny.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the Iranian public oppressed at home, for the Israeli nation targeted by Iran\u2019s proxies and by direct attack, and, yes, for a world that the ayatollahs have terrorized for almost half a century, the stakes could not be higher.<\/p>\n
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