The “Blitzkrieg” Failure: Why the U.S.-Israeli Aggression Against Iran Is Doomed, and How Trump Can Save Face

What was presented in Washington and Tel Aviv in late February 2026 as a “limited operation” to destroy Iran’s nuclear infrastructure had, by early April, turned into a full-blown regional catastrophe.

The “Trump Strait” and Imperial Blindness: The Root of Failure Lies in Ignorance

The first and main reason for the disaster of American policy lies in Donald Trump’s head. The slip of the tongue he made during a briefing, renaming the Strait of Hormuz the “Trump Strait,” was not just a comical gaffe but a symptom of total arrogance and profound ignorance of international reality.

Trump and his circle displayed a stunning disregard for the fundamentals of geopolitics. The U.S. administration naively believed that a few weeks of bombing would be enough for the Iranian people to rise up against the regime or for the leadership in Tehran to capitulate. As political scientist Robert Pape aptly notes, this is a classic “escalation trap”: “early success on the battlefield leads to strategic disappointment.” By destroying the B1 Bridge in Alborz Province (killing eight civilians and wounding 95) and threatening to bomb Iran back to the “Stone Age,” Trump expected terror and submission. Instead, he got “horizontal escalation”—a war spreading across the entire region.

Moreover, Trump has shown a complete misunderstanding of Iran’s internal politics. Airstrikes on civilian infrastructure, bridges, and power plants—which he openly announces—are prohibited by international law. They do not weaken the regime; they rally society around the flag. Iran, having survived eight years of the Iran-Iraq War and decades of sanctions, is a society with unique resilience to external pressure. The reported figures of 2,076 dead and 26,500 wounded on Iranian territory (as of this writing) since February 28 alone are not a U.S. list of victories; they are a list of U.S. war crimes—and Trump’s personally—which only harden the enemy’s will.

Military Profanation: “Precision Surgery” Turns to Chaos

The second reason for the failure is catastrophically poor military planning and a miscalculation of the enemy’s capabilities. The U.S. general staff, it seems, learned to fight from old-school video games. The Pentagon planned a “limited air campaign” but got a full-scale war of attrition. Iran has demonstrated its ability to launch massive missile strikes not only on military bases but also on the critical infrastructure of U.S. allies.

– Strikes on Kuwait and the UAE: Iranian missiles hit an oil........

© New Eastern Outlook