America Should Bomb Iran
There has never been a better time to deal the Islamic Republic a crippling blow and destroy its nuclear ambitions before they become grim reality.
The political world has been totally consumed by the tariff controversy coming from the Trump administration – and rightly so, as these tariffs are exceptionally badly conceived and will do significant economic damage with little to no upside. The policy is already a debacle and will surely take up even more attention and (right-minded) vitriol as the days roll by. But counterproductive economic policy that demeans American credibility with friends abroad is not the only thing of geopolitical import these days. Several recent events speak to the near-future becoming a hinge point with respect to Iran, its nuclear weapons program, and its malign regional aims. Two dueling news stories stand out in this regard.
First, there is the ongoing attempt by the White House to get Tehran to engage in a new round of talks over its nuclear program. The president and his team have reached out to the Iranians directly, via intermediaries, and publicly, seeking to bring the regime to the table for direct, one-on-one negotiations over the future of its nuclear and regional ambitions. So far, the mullahcracy has demurred, instead pushing for indirect talks managed by Oman, the same as they engaged in with the Obama and Biden administrations. According to those in the know, the White House is seriously considering accepting this proposal and beginning talks.
On the other hand, there is the continued force buildup at the American military base on Diego Garcia, which looks to be squarely aimed at Tehran. Over the past few weeks the administration has sent six B-2 stealth bombers – a full 30% of our total B-2 airwing – to the Indian Ocean airstrip. This is an abnormal force deployment for what is considered peacetime (even though we are in a running naval battle with the Houthis in Yemen). Diego Garcia, a critical part of the US global security architecture, is located in a geopolitically-advantageous position in the Indian Ocean, allowing for long-range strikes across the Middle East, Central Asia, the Indian Sea littoral, Africa, and parts of Southeast Asia from an unsinkable and highly defensible landmass. The deployment of B-2s in this region is a clear sign to Iran that America has the ability to strike it at will and may not hesitate to do so.
When viewed together, these stories show the United States to be an inflection point when it comes to our strategy to advance American interests in the Middle East. The Trump administration is faced with a choice: double down on the failed Obama/Biden strategy of negotiation, or defend American interests in a durable way by destroying Tehran’s nuclear program once and for all. When these are the options, the answer must be clear. The best way to defend American interests, undermine our inveterate foe, and protect our regional allies is to deal the Iranian nuclear program a fatal blow.
Right now, the Iranian nuclear program is closing in on its objective: building an atomic weapon for the totalitarian mullahs to consolidate their rule and extend their regional power. This is the culmination of more than a decade of (mostly) terrible policy toward the Islamic Republic, largely on the part of the Obama and Biden administrations. They sought conciliation with Tehran, despite the clear danger it poses to our interests and security, and gave the mullahs whatever they wanted in search of an elusive deal. During the first Trump term, this was reversed and maximum pressure applied; this worked very well to defang Iran, but was overturned by the return of the appeasement faction to the White House in 2021. The sanctions relief, international legitimacy, and regional support Iran received from those Democratic presidents allowed them to expand their nuclear program, ballistic missile manufacturing, and support for global terrorism and anti-Israel forces. That all culminated in the heinous and barbaric Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023 and the subsequent launching of a regional war against the Jewish State. The failed American policy of unilateral concessions, constant negotiations, and privileging of Iranian narratives drove the conflict we are currently experiencing in the Middle East.
But the resolve, power, and innovation of the Israelis has completely turned the tide – no thanks to the Biden administration’s attempts to restrain Jerusalem. Right now, Iran’s vaunted Axis of Resistance is in shambles: Hamas has been devastated and is in the process of being routed, Hezbollah has lost its entire leadership structure and many of its weapons, the Houthis have been put on the back foot via Israeli and American strikes, the Assad regime in Syria is no more, and Iran proper is at a low ebb. Back in October 2024, Israel launched a series of retaliatory attacks against Iranian air defense assets, destroying its advanced missile batteries and essentially leaving it undefended from aerial assault. The bulk of Iranian nuclear and missile infrastructure is buried deep underground, making it all but impenetrable for the vast majority of airborne systems, even those possessed by our Israeli allies. But not all airborne systems.
The United States has the ability, via our most advanced penetrative munitions, to annihilate these underground structures and therefore the nuclear sites and mobile missile batteries located within. B-2 bombers, like the ones currently stationed at Diego Garcia, are the delivery mechanism for those powerful weapons. The Iranian air defense system remains largely inoperable, but this will not be the case forever. Therefore, the ability for America to launch these attacks with little immediate risk to the attackers is not a permanent state of affairs; we should take advantage of it while it lasts. Our Israeli allies would be more than happy to provide the bulk of the firepower for a raid on Iran’s nuclear sites, allowing our contribution to focus on dealing the death blow to the deeply-buried military installations. And this would truly be a killshot for the Iranian nuclear program, setting it back decades and dramatically weakening the regime both at home and abroad. Combined with a continuation of the maximum pressure strategy from the first Trump term, this would put the mullahcracy on life support, incentivize domestic unrest in Iran, and significantly reduce the regime’s ability to foment chaos across the region. Ending the Iranian nuclear threat would help promote long-term American interests in the Middle East while allowing us to shift focus to other theaters.
Critics may argue against this approach in several ways, but none succeed when confronted with the evidence. First, we have the idea that this would be another ‘forever war’ fought on behalf of Israel and not in America’s direct interests. Besides the fact that the whole idea of ‘forever wars’ is stupid and ahistorical, this runs into multiple problems. The conflict would not be one where we seek to overthrow the Iranian regime directly with American troops on the ground a la Iraq, but a targeted operation focused exclusively on crushing the country’s nuclear program. As such, the idea that it would morph into a ‘forever war’ is unfounded. Just as unfounded is the claim that physically ending the Iranian nuclear threat before it metastasizes is not a core American interest, but is being done on behalf of our Israeli friends. This trope is often deployed by antisemites (especially the Israel bit), but it does have wider purchase. It just so happens to be totally wrong. Iran has killed thousands of American soldiers and civilians directly and via its terrorist proxies, it labels us the Great Satan and has as a motto “Death to America,” and it seeks long-range ballistic missiles with which to deliver nuclear payloads as far as the American mainland. Tehran is our enemy – they say so themselves – and they act like it. We should absolutely not allow such a malign entity to achieve nuclear status; just look at how difficult it is to deal with North Korea now that they are a nuclear power. We should not hesitate to use kinetic means to ensure that the same situation is not repeated in the Middle East.
Next, some say that a better approach would be negotiation to end the program. They point to the JCPOA negotiated by President Obama as an exemplary version of this tactic. But that deal was flawed from the start, as it had an inbuilt sunset mechanism which would have eventually allowed Iranian nukes, failed to address any of Tehran’s ballistic missile or terrorist activity, and lifted all major sanctions on the country, allowing it to profit and direct that spending into militaristic action. At the same time, Iran failed to comply with the deal as written, engaging in violations of the contract by secretly enriching uranium past the set limits, building clandestine nuclear facilities outside of the scope of the deal, and refusing to allow inspections of various listed sites. They are not, have never been, and will never be a good faith actor that can be dealt with in any reasonable or durable fashion. They are an anti-American terrorist regime that seeks to kill our citizens, overthrow the world order, and aid our other enemies. We should not negotiate with such people, especially over something as world-historical as a nuclear weapons program.
Lastly, some critics suggest that Iran is a distraction from the real threat, China. They say that all of America’s military power and focus must be on the Pacific, otherwise we will inevitably lose a war against Beijing – striking perhaps a fatal blow to American world power. They argue that we can manage a nuclear Iran alongside our regional partners and cannot afford any distractions from the main event. I am fairly sympathetic to this position, as I agree that China is our primary threat and should be prioritized as such. Where I disagree is that I firmly believe – with quite a long chain of evidentiary backing – that our enemies are deeply interlinked and working together to achieve their shared aim of destroying the US-led world order. China, Russia, Iran, and their various satrapies across the globe are all pushing against our interests and helping one another along the way. Iran is selling suicide drones to Russia for use in Ukraine, Russia has helped Iran avoid American sanctions for years, and China is a primary customer for the oil exports of each. Artificially segmenting these theaters is unrealistic; any war that involves one of the powers, especially China, the big dog in the group, would involve all of them in some form or fashion. Degrading the military capabilities of Iran, especially when it comes to nuclear weapons, would only benefit America in a conflict with China. Given the relative simplicity of the task at hand, plus our ability to rely on our Israeli allies to bear much of the responsibility of follow-up strikes, this mission would not be a distraction from the Indo-Pacific. Instead, it could show us to be a serious force to be reckoned with, degrading the Iranian leg of the adversarial stool and potentially providing something of a deterrent for Beijing.
This strategy is not entirely risk-free. We would likely face reprisals from Iran, both directly and via proxies. But, if the mission is carried out properly with help from Israel, we could severely damage Tehran’s ability to deal us any sort of serious payback or shift the target to an ally willing and able to bear it. Stopping the nuclearization of the mullahcracy is of paramount importance to American geopolitical interests and national security. We have a chance to accomplish that objective at fairly low cost right now. But it will not stay this way for long. President Trump should act fast and capitalize on this momentous opportunity. Not only would it benefit America, but our regional allies and the oppressed Iranian people, too.
We should take a page out of the playbook of the late, great John McCain and ‘bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb Iran’. There is no better time than now.