From “Making America Great Again” to “Making Israel Great Again”

The new escalation between the US, Israel, and Iran challenges the official explanation for the war as a fight against a nuclear threat and points to a broader strategic calculation – maintaining a regional balance of power in which Israel remains the dominant military power in the Middle East.

From nuclear deterrence to repeated war

In June 2025, the administration of Donald Trump launched direct strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, marking the first U.S. attack on targets inside Iran in decades. American B-2 bombers and cruise missiles hit major sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, using massive bunker-buster bombs designed to penetrate deeply buried infrastructure. Trump quickly declared that Iran’s nuclear facilities had been “completely and totally obliterated.” The White House insisted the strikes had decisively neutralized Tehran’s nuclear program. Yet subsequent assessments suggested the outcome was far more limited. A Pentagon damage assessment indicated that the strikes may have set Iran’s program back by roughly two years rather than destroying it outright.

The ambiguity surrounding the results did little to slow escalation. By early 2026, the United States had once again entered a new phase of conflict alongside Israel. Joint US–Israeli strikes began in late February 2026 and quickly expanded into a broader war targeting Iranian leadership, missile infrastructure, and military assets. The rhetoric accompanying this escalation suggests that Washington’s objectives have expanded beyond the nuclear issue. Trump has stated that the war will continue until Iran accepts “unconditional surrender,” implying the desire........

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