Donald Trump’s decision to deploy a weapon possessed only by the United States — the 13-ton “super bunker-buster bomb” — to set back Tehran’s nuclear ambitions by years marks a dangerous escalation of the conflict in the Middle East. The move carries enormous risks — the very risks Trump’s predecessors tried to avoid by imploring the ayatollahs to negotiate, deliberately refraining from flexing military muscle for fear of provoking them. Iran will be left with no choice but to retaliate against U.S. forces in the region. Trump, in turn, has already vowed to respond with force even greater than what was unleashed yesterday. There is no doubt that we are now witnessing the start of a spiral of destructive violence that will be extremely difficult to reverse. And yet, by striking at “the head of the snake” — the world’s most anachronistic autocratic regime, theocratic dictatorship of the ayatollahs, which has slaughtered tens of thousands of women for refusing to wear the Islamic veil and openly calls for Israel’s destruction — Trump restores the most precious asset of all: deterrence.
The images and thunderous blasts from the explosions that shattered the mountain hiding Iran’s advanced nuclear program reached the power halls of the other three anti-American capitals instantly. Vladimir Putin can no longer ignore the U.S. President’s determination to bring the war in Ukraine to an end — a war that has brought Russia nothing but hundreds of thousands of casualties, an unsustainable war economy, and NATO’s expansion with Sweden and Finland joining the alliance. If Putin continues to stall and play for time, Trump’s patience will eventually run out. Targets abound — starting with the phantom tankers that help the Kremlin evade sanctions. And North Korea’s “rocket man,” Kim Jong-un, who built his atomic bomb on the back of his people’s extreme poverty, will think twice before answering Moscow’s call to send cannon fodder to the front. He will remember what Trump told him at the United Nations General Assembly during his first term: “The U.S. nuclear button is much bigger than yours.”
But even more striking is that America’s entry into war against Iran sends an implicit warning to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Beijing has been directing the narrative of a United States in irreversible decline, with China ready to take its place. That script now needs urgent revision. The Chinese leadership, who interpreted Trump’s earlier hesitation as proof of America’s inability to defend its allies, must now reconsider. The U.S. President has shown the exact opposite. For China, the military path to the long-promised “reunification” with Taiwan now seems more remote. Xi is left empty-handed: after promising China’s renaissance, he now faces a faltering economy, record unemployment, and no true allies — only neighbors that fear him after he imposed the law of the strongest in every territorial dispute.
The U.S. strike on Iran demonstrates that America wields unmatched military power. But it’s not just the might of the weapons — the manner in which the decision was reached makes it even harder for Beijing to predict how Washington might react to a Taiwan invasion. By keeping the door to negotiations open until the last moment while preparing to bomb nuclear sites, Trump confirms his image as an unpredictable, unreadable leader. For Beijing, the scenario is paralyzing.
As I wrote in my latest book, The Emperor: Donald Trump and the Dawn of a New Era (Piemme Editions), the American President favors negotiation to resolve conflicts but believes that peace can only be achieved by demonstrating strength. From today, it is clear: America is back — as Trump said in his address to Congress, pointedly echoing and reappropriating the slogan of his predecessor, Joe Biden.