Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu will go down in history as the two men who put an end to Iran’s 45-year reign of terror. In brilliantly executed attacks, using deception, and the very best of American and Israeli technology and know-how they destroyed Iran’s ability to obtain the nuclear weapons it was racing to produce. For this contribution to world peace they deserve the Nobel Prize.Countless books and articles have been written about just how truly evil was the theocratic regime that came to power in 1979. Millions of lives have been ruined and lost by the religious zealots who made Iran into a prison, and exported death and mayhem throughout the Middle East, and the entire world. .However, to illustrate how truly awful this regime is, one example alone clearly typifies the fanaticism and brutality of the 45-year rule of the mullahs. This was the use of Iranian children as human minesweepers and child soldiers during the 1980-88 Iran/Iraq war. Thousands of boys were sent to their deaths to keep the mullahs in power. Each child was given a “ticket to paradise” by the mullahs, before being sent to their deaths..Young boys, aged 12-17 years, wore red headbands with the words ‘Sar Allah’ in Farsi (Warriors of God) and small metal keys that the Ayatollah declared were their tickets to Paradise if they were martyred in their mission. Many were sent into battle against Iraqi tanks without any protection and bound by ropes to prevent desertion.It should be noted that the mullahs did not do their own “minesweeping” nor did they use their own children. Just as in the case of the countless suicide bombers and child soldiers that they convinced to “martyr” themselves, the mullahs used children from poor families, while the well fed mullahs and their families remained safe in their cozy beds..Until operations “Rising Lion” and “Midnight Hammer” shook them from their sleep, that is.Operation “Midnight Hammer” was the name given to the American operation. It was the first major demonstration of what Trump’s “Peace Through Strength” policy will look like. It is a firm rejection of the notion that the policy means American isolationism, but confirmation that Trump’s policy will not include “boots on the ground” in “forever wars.”The operation itself was incredibly complicated but exquisitely planned. Former CIA Director General David Petraeus describes how a 125 aircraft operation, consisting of jammers, surveillance, drones, refuellers, fighter jets and bombers had to come together to make it work. One mistake and the entire operation could unravel..Trump’s many enemies, both domestically and internationally, would have enjoyed seeing accidents happen. Considering the complexity of the operation, it is a testament to American military competence that nothing went wrong. The bombers entered and exited Iranian airspace within 25 minutes. Tom Cruise and his Top Gun crew couldn’t have done better.Midnight Hammer was only possible because of the remarkable military steps Netanyahu’s Israel had taken since it was attacked by Hamas on Oct 7, 2023. In addition to degrading Hamas, Israel systematically began eliminating Iran’s main proxy, Hezbollah, as a threat. Israel’s operation “Rising Lion” against Iran itself became possible only after Israel had neutered Hezbollah, and gained control of Syrian airspace.Leading up to both operations, Trump and Netanyahu had created the illusion that there was a rift between them over Iran. Journalists, eager for exactly this to happen between two men they despised, spread this story far and wide..It was never true.Trump and Netanyahu were always agreed on the plan: Trump would give Iran 60 days to agree to give up its nuclear ambitions. If Iran refused Trump’s offer, Israel would attack Iran to destroy its nuclear facilities. That’s exactly what Israel did on Day 61.Trump and Netanyahu might be using this same “rift” deception now, with Trump using an “f-bomb” when answering a question from the press to draw attention to his supposed unhappiness with Israel over their failure to abide by the ceasefire Trump announced. It is possible that the two men have agreed on this tactic to allow Israel to continue hammering Iran, while the United States safely withdraws.Trump did his part by smashing the nuclear sites. The rest is Israel’s business. We might never know. Both men are clever actors when they need to be..Both Netanyahu and Trump took enormous risks by proceeding with their respective operations. In the case of the former, it is not hyperbole to say that the very survival of his country was at stake if he failed.In Trump’s case, a crashed B-2 would have crippled the rest of his term. Think back to President Jimmy Carter’s botched rescue of the hostages. Pictures of those destroyed helicopters ended his re-election chances. They also thoroughly demoralized Americans. I’m sure that was on Trump’s mind when he had to decide whether he should send in the bombers — or kick the can down the road, as all previous presidents had done since 1979.When it was announced that the mission had been a success, many of his former critics had to admit that Trump had performed a great service to America, and for the world. Even Former National Security Advisor, John Bolton — an unrelenting Trump critic — had nothing but praise for what Trump did..But most of Trump’s critics are still insisting that there is no coherent foreign policy in the Trump administration — that it is all unpredictability and chaos. Some are trying to impeach him because Congress wasn’t consulted. And others condemn what he accomplished on equally spurious grounds — just because they oppose everything Trump does.And yet, Trump has achieved one of the greatest accomplishments of this century — the neutering of the extremely dangerous Iranian regime. It can only be imagined what chaos there would be internationally if Trump had lost and the Democrats had continued the Obama/Biden policy of appeasement of Iran, to the point where Iran obtained the nuclear bomb..What all of these commentators are not understanding (or refusing to understand) about Trump is that he is deliberately unpredictable. He has spoken of the “mad man” theory adopted by Richard Nixon, and it is quite obvious that he has adopted a version of that. He uses unpredictability as a strength to keep his enemies off guard.It is also clear that Trump understands that the United States, as the dominant representative of western civilization, does not have the luxury of isolating itself, or becoming “neutral.” While he speaks out forcefully against the futility of the Iraq and Afghanistan “forever wars” he is not afraid to use force decisively, as demonstrated by his assassination of Iranian General Soleimani and devastation of ISIS in his first term.Operation Midnight Hammer is a classic example of the Trump strategy.General Wesley Clark, four star general, and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, believes Trump’s bold action has established the principle that it is no longer acceptable for one nation (Iran) to base its entire existence on the destruction of another nation (Israel.)Since 1979 Iran has used Israel in the same way Hitler used the Jews — as a foil on which to blame all of their self-inflicted problems. They ignored the fact that Israel is a tiny country a thousand miles away from them, and irrelevant to their economy. Other middle eastern dictators play this game, but they don’t threaten Israel with annihilation, and build nuclear bombs to do the job. Previous Israeli and American leaders knew that the mullahs had to be stopped, but always found reasons to stop short of confronting them. Netanyahu and Trump found the resolve to do the job that needed doing..Why didn’t previous leaders do it?As former four star General Jack Keane sees it, Obama and Biden were both paralyzed by the fear of what Iran’s reaction would be to a strike on their nuclear facilities. As a result they attempted to bribe the mullahs. The result was the worst of both worlds — Iran not only continued to move towards the bomb during their terms, but used the billions of dollars freed up by Obama and Biden to fund their proxy terrorism in the Middle East and through the world. The Western Standard’s Nigel Hannaford’s is also of this view..HANNAFORD: Trump emerges as the ‘strong horse’ after Iran strike.Meanwhile, what were Canadian and most European leaders, like French gadfly Emmanuel Macron, urging both Israel and Trump to do instead of taking action? They were urging more “negotiations” even after it had become abundantly clear that Iran was playing games. Then, after Israel attacked Iran, and was making rapid progress in the destruction of Iran’s military machinery, they called for the usual “de-escalation” and “ceasefire” — both of which would have left the Iranian leadership and their nuclear facilities in place.Those are the same leaders who complain that Trump’s entry onto the world scene has ushered in a leadership vacuum. In fact, the opposite is taking place. It is Trump who is actually reintroducing a new kind of leadership — not the feckless lack of leadership of Biden, who was so afraid of doing anything that might provoke Iran that he let the mullahs take advantage of him. Or Obama, who gave the Iranians the message that America was a toothless tiger in the Syrian crisis by “drawing a line in the sand” — namely his threat to Assad not to use chemical weapons — and then doing nothing when Assad defied him. Or showing absolutely no American leadership when Putin waltzed into Crimea — all signals to the mullahs that America was weak. Or the “leadership” of Europe’s leaders, who are so distracted by peripheral concerns, such as climate change, or how to muzzle their own citizens, that they failed completely to restrain an increasingly aggressive Iran.This new American leadership that is taking place looks very different. Trump will establish a bottom line — in this case firmly telling Iran that they must agree to give up their nuclear aspirations. He allowed 60 days for negotiations, and gave Iran every opportunity to come to an agreement. That was statesmanship.Now we will see how that will work with Putin on his war on Ukraine. Trump established a bottom line — namely that Zelensky and Putin must agree to a 30 day ceasefire for the purpose of entering into serious negotiations for a peace deal. After a rough start Zelensky agreed. Putin didn’t.We also wait to see how this will work with Xi and Taiwan. Iran played a vital role in the China, Russia, Iran, North Korea alliance, derisively known as CRINKs. These people are not our friends. Reducing Iran to an impotent player in the Middle East can be expected to seriously impede their virtual war with the West. This thoughtful Hudson Institute analysis explains:“Aside from its ideological utility, Iran plays three major converging geostrategic roles in the Russia-China axis. First, it destabilized the Middle East through a sprawling proxy network in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen— consisting of armed movements designed to encircle Israel, weaken American allies, and shift the regional balance through relentless asymmetric warfare.Second, it served as a critical strategic asset to Moscow and Beijing by facilitating sanctions evasion and anchoring diplomatic coalitions aimed at eroding the U.S.-led order.Third, it offered geographic and logistical depth to the axis, acting as a bridge between Eurasia and the Middle East, and enabling Russia and China to expand their influence across energy corridors and strategic chokepoints. For Beijing, this positioning was vital to its infrastructure push across southern Asia, known as the Belt and Road initiative. For Moscow, it offered a rear base of operations for military and paramilitary coordination.”.Netanyahu and Trump knew exactly what they were doing to Xi and Putin when they sent their fighters and bombers into Iran. The world has changed for the better as a result.It will be interesting to see what Trump does after the dust settles on the Iran war.I’m sure that both Putin and Xi are taking note. As Conrad Black succinctly puts it: “Underestimating Donald Trump is a hazardous enterprise.”And what about the critics on the left and right who predicted nuclear Armageddon if Netanyahu and Trump went into Iran. Trump had all of the usual leftists nipping at his heels, but on this issue he also faced unrelenting criticism from the right as well. Tucker Carlson went red in the face as he accused Trump of being “complicit” in the war - basically accusing Trump of being a war criminal. The tireless Alex Jones went on for months predicting “thermonuclear war” and the end of civilization if Trump went into Iran.But they were wrong. The symbolic retaliatory attack Iran made on the American airbase in Qatar is strong evidence that the mullahs have no stomach for a war with America. Whether or not the ceasefire announced by Trump will hold between Iran and Israel it does appear that WWIII, or the “forever war” predicted by his critics on the left and on the right is not happening. Netanyahu and Trump have succeeded in neutering one of the most dangerous regimes in history.This only happened because of the bold action of two men - Netanyahu and Trump. Iran’s ability to build nuclear weapons has been taken from them, and the world is now a much safer place - just as Netanyahu and Trump said that it would be.Netanyahu and Trump should get the Nobel Prize for what they have accomplished.But they won’t get it. The prize is only given to liberal progressives, like those who insisted that diplomacy must continue even after it had become perfectly clear that Iran was playing games.The fact is that if Netanyahu and Trump had heeded their advice the mullahs might have their bomb by now.Brian Giesbrecht is a retired judge and a senior fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.
