It is obvious right from the Vietnam War years and his bonus spurs that Trump is not a military man. Pressured by the Epstein fallout, tariffs and the tepid economic numbers, Trump needed a win. Scratching around, the hardline Iran seemed to provide an easy target. Who could love the mad mullahs who assiduously develop nuclear weapons and have been chanting death to America for 47 years. And so Operation Epic Fury was born.
Having campaigned on the promise of no foreign interference, let alone war, Trump and his cronies have used every description of the action while studiously avoiding the word, war. Trump even used the word excursion.
But they were right after all – it was not a war. It was a miscalculation. However, they were right about the epic bit – it was Operation Epic Fail. From the get-go, they were up the Straits without a paddle when they struck Iran on 28 Feb, decapitating the Ayatollah and more than 160 school children.
How did this come about? Firstly, he has surrounded himself by a coterie of clowns. There’s Dummkopf Witkoff, the US Special Envoy to the Middle East and his advisor, Jared Kushner, both real estate developers and Jewish to boot. Then there’s Pete Hegseth, head of the military, who’s claim to fame is that he was a major in the Army which qualifies him only to run something tactical like a battalion and not to fight a war strategically. Secondly, although the top Generals would have provided proper analysis and options, Trump’s MO is like his BO: he doesn’t need anyone’s help.
But the biggest mistake was not predicting the outcome. As the resident world bully, all he thought he had to do was to use a bit of shock and awe and Iran would cave. Not so. Iran has a population of 90 million, at least half of whom are imbued with pre-renaissance religious fanaticism, and it is too big and rugged to be dominated against their will. They immediately embarked on asymmetric warfare shooting off cheap drones and rockets at everyone and the dog in the Gulf region thereby widening the conflict. They have closed off the 6km wide sea lane through the Straits of Hormuz through which 20% of the world’s oil and gas transits and not even the US can operate a naval fleet with impunity in the narrow waters of the gulfs on either side. Iran’s conventional forces have been comprehensively destroyed yet the cheap drones keep coming and Iran rebuffs any Trumpian overtures with contempt.
Trump has never bargained with their ilk before and is out of his depth. He has no exit plan or options in the face of this illogical intransigence. Although suffering, the Iranian theocracy is laughing at him and are not backing down. Trump has no cards, an insult that he arrogantly threw at Zelensky during a White House press ambush exactly a year before he attacked Iran. What delicious payback to the narcissistic bully boy if it weren’t so serious for the world.