Those who neglect history...

other wars that on paper the US was winning in terms of enemies killed and bombing raids completed in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. But it is important to remember that after years of bloodshed and killing, they all ended in ways that amounted to defeat for the United States

But that required a president in the White House who was prepared to go to war alongside Israel, something that had never happened despite the two countries' close relationship and Israel's dependence on US military and diplomatic support. Netanyahu could never persuade a US president that it was in America's interests to go to war with Iran – until the second term of Donald J Trump.

Despite America and Iran's bitter and toxic relationship since the Shah, a staunch US ally, was overthrown in 1979, successive US presidents believed that the best way of dealing with the Islamic Republic of Iran was to contain it. During America's occupation of Iraq, it did not go to war with Iran even when Tehran was equipping and training Iraqi militias who were killing US troops. The only justification, they calculated, would be an imminent threat, especially information that Iran was close to creating a nuclear weapon.

Trump included a nuclear threat in his evolving list of reasons to go to war. But there is no credible evidence that Iran was about to get a weapon or the means to deliver one. Even the White House still has a statement on its website, external dated 25 June 2025 under the headline 'Iran's Nuclear Facilities Have Been Obliterated – and Suggestions Otherwise are Fake News.'

Trump is now discovering why his predecessors decided that the risks of choosing to go to war would be just too great.

Asymmetric warfare

The war looks to be turning into a classic example of how a smaller, weaker power can fight an enemy that is bigger and stronger, the kind of conflict that strategists call asymmetric warfare. It is early days, after only a month, to compare it to other wars that on paper the US was winning in terms of enemies killed and bombing raids completed in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. But it is important to remember that after years of bloodshed and killing, they all ended in ways that amounted to defeat for the United States.

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Lessons from history

In 1956 the United Kingdom and France went to war alongside Israel after the Egyptian president Gamal Abdul Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal, a global waterway that was as significant a chokepoint for the world economy as the Strait of Hormuz is now. They attained all their military objectives but were forced to withdraw by President Eisenhower of the United States.

For the British, it was the beginning of the end of their imperial domination of the Middle East.

America is faced by the rise of China. When the history is written of their competition to be the world's strongest power, Trump's badly planned war against Iran might be seen as a turning point, a waystation of decline, as Suez was for the United Kingdom.

 

The White House Press Statement - June 25, 2025:

Iran’s Nuclear Facilities Have Been Obliterated — and Suggestions Otherwise are Fake News

The White House

June 25, 2025

The world is far safer after President Donald J. Trump’s highly successful, decisive precision strikes against the Iranian regime’s key nuclear facilities.

Take it from those who actually know:

President Trump: “Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran, as shown by satellite images. Obliteration is an accurate term! The white structure shown is deeply imbedded into the rock, with even its roof well below ground level, and completely shielded from flame. The biggest damage took place far below ground level. Bullseye!!!”

https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/israel-iran-conflict-us-trump-06-25-... .%E2%80%9D">Israel Atomic Energy Commission: “The devastating US strike on Fordo destroyed the site’s critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility inoperable. We assess that the American strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, combined with Israeli strikes on other elements of Iran’s military nuclear program, has set back Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years. The achievement can continue indefinitely if Iran does not get access to nuclear material.”

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir: “I can say here that the assessment is that we significantly damaged the nuclear program, and I can also say that we set it back by years, I repeat, years.”

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https:// www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2025/06/irans-nuclear-facilities-have-been-o...

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