OPINION:
President Trump is at his best when he is making peace, but he opted for war on Saturday. Operation Midnight Hammer slipped seven B-2 stealth bombers into Iranian airspace, where they dropped 400,000 pounds of bunker-busting munitions that leveled the Islamic republic’s most advanced military research facilities.
“Our objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s No. 1 state sponsor of terror,” the president explained.
Although Mr. Trump promised to stop the endless foreign conflicts, he noted that we were already in a de facto state of war. “For 40 years, Iran has been saying, ‘Death to America, death to Israel.’ They have been killing our people, blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs, with roadside bombs.”
Attempts at negotiating with the mullahs proved futile. One might even forgive them for thinking our commander in chief lacked resolve. After all, they have fond memories of Democratic administrations dropping pallets of cash, worth billions of dollars, as a reward for taking Americans hostage or for providing an empty pledge of nuclear disarmament.
To save face now, Tehran is talking tough, claiming it will close the Strait of Hormuz. Its proxies in Yemen declared war on the United States. This is a legitimate threat to global commerce because many merchant vessels will steer clear of trouble. The U.S. fleet can handle whatever the Houthis send to attack tankers and shipping containers, but the longer-term effects are unclear.
America’s regime change efforts in Iraq, Syria and Libya replaced despots with Islamic radicals. In Afghanistan, we invested $1 trillion to get rid of the old Taliban in favor of a new Taliban armed with billions of dollars in U.S. weapons and equipment.
Perhaps recognizing this, the administration is exercising restraint. Vice President J.D. Vance appeared on “Meet the Press” on Sunday to emphasize that “We can have a good relationship with the Iranians,” and diplomacy is alive as long as the regime leaves U.S. troops alone and “follow President Trump’s lead and give peace a chance” — without nukes.
This isn’t as impossible as it seems. Mr. Trump has announced a ceasefire in the decades-old fight between Congo and Rwanda. A signing ceremony for the peace agreement will take place Friday. Since the opening of hostilities in 1996, some 6 million have died and 5 million more endure shortages of food and medicine in refugee camps.
He also de-escalated the deadly squabble that had nuclear-armed India launching missiles at nuclear-armed Pakistan. New Delhi was out for blood after a brutal terrorist assault in April left 25 Indians dead. The president walked both parties away from the brink of all-out war last month.
Mr. Trump’s second-term diplomacy is ending seemingly intractable disputes, but this success overseas must not overshadow the critical work that remains on the domestic front. Resecuring America’s energy independence has become even more important as oil prices climb in response to heightened Middle Eastern turmoil.
Mr. Trump needs to redouble efforts to pressure recalcitrant senators into passing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which funds completion of the border wall that keeps terrorists from sneaking across our southern border. He also needs to continue prioritizing the deportations of visa holders and illegal aliens who preach hatred against Israel.
That’s how he can reclaim the “America First” agenda that voters chose in November.
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