The United States of America joined the war between Israel and Iran by bombing three nuclear sites in Iran. President Donald Trump used his presidential authority to send stealth bombers, which dropped the bombs. They could not be stopped by Iran’s anti-aircraft defence.

The president ordered the strike on a sovereign nation without any provocation and without the approval of Congress, that is, their legislature. Whether he exceeded his authority or not will be debated for long and might perhaps go to court. Even the right-wing supporters of Trump do not want America to be dragged into wars in distant lands.

The bombs included the so-called bunker busters, weighing nearly 15 kilotons. It is unlikely that Iran’s nuclear programme has been destroyed. Does the American bombing mean that the war is over and peace has commenced in the region? Will there be an immediate regime change? Of course not.

Iran was expected to and indeed did retaliate against the US, though in a muted manner, by firing on US bases in Qatar but after giving notice of its action to the US, a step that actually invited a message of thanks to Iran from Trump himself.

Even earlier, President Trump had, in a speech he gave in Saudi Arabia, said, “The so-called nation builders wrecked far more nations than they built… and the interventionists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand.”

For now, it appears that peace is holding out, though........

© Free Press Journal