Posted on Sunday, June 22, 2025
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by David P. Deavel
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1 Comments
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President Trump announced last week that he would make a decision within two weeks about whether to involve the U.S. in Israel’s efforts to neutralize Iran’s nuclear program. He did so this weekend with a daring raid by American pilots in B-2 bombers carrying so-called bunker-buster bombs—”30,000-pound Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs” capable of reaching nuclear enrichment facilities 300 feet below ground.
The move has divided Republicans, many of whom justifiably do not want involvement in another Middle East war. But Trump made the decision to bomb Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites precisely to avoid a long war with American boots on the ground. It was designed to force Iran to finally come to the negotiating table. The old Latin slogan (familiar to history buffs and fans of the John Wick movie series) is Si vis pacem, para bellum: “If you wish for peace, prepare for war.”
The president’s announcement came on social media on Saturday evening:
“We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan. All planes are now outside of Iran air space. A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home. Congratulations to our great American Warriors. There is not another military in the World that could have done this. NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
President Trump followed this written announcement up with a brief address to the nation in which he reiterated that the “massive precision strikes” were aimed at the Iranian nuclear enrichment capacity—and that “the nuclear enrichment facilities were obliterated.”
“Iran, the bully of the Middle East,” Trump declared, “must now make peace.” Trump briefly described the role of Iran as the world’s leading state sponsor of terror, noting that they have specialized in “roadside bombs” and other ways of mutilating and killing at least a thousand Americans as well as many other Israelis and others in the Middle East.
Trump congratulated Israel’s military and President Netanyahu on this maneuver designed to erase a threat to Israel. He also congratulated the pilots who flew the “magnificent machines” that delivered the massive bombs. “Hopefully we will no longer need their services in this capacity. I hope that’s so.”
Trump emphasized that Iran needs to aim for peace since it will be much easier to attack them now. “This cannot continue. There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days.” Trump also noted that there are other targets that the U.S. has in its sights if Iran does not come to the negotiating table. “If peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed, and skill.”
Trump sounded visibly moved at the end of the three-and-a-half minute address, saying, “God, I just want to say we love you, God.” He asked God to bless our troops, concluding, “God bless the Middle East, God bless Israel, and God bless America.”
Trump’s move may have upset some on the right who wish not to be engaged in the Middle East, as well as many on the left who have a soft spot for Iran, oppose Israel, or just reflexively oppose everything Trump does. But the President has been consistent over the years about the need to stop Iran, which, through its terrorist proxies has been maiming and killing Americans ever since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. That the Obama-Biden strategy of sending large amounts of cash did not appease or reform them was evident from the fact that, when the Biden administration resumed giving money to the country after the first Trump administration cut them off, they sponsored the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel.
Trump’s moves found applause in perhaps unexpected places. CNN guest and retired General Mark Kimmitt told Anderson Cooper that the President’s moves were smart: “Well, I’m fascinated and candidly, I’m impressed. I never really could understand what the two week pause meant or what it was for, what was left to negotiate. What were we going to expect the Iranians to offer?… I think the use of deception and trickery in this case, first of all, was successful. But second of all, saved the potential loss of American lives.”
Will Trump be successful? Some skeptics say that Trump is being overly optimistic. Others say that we are now in danger from Iranian sleeper agents smuggled in through Biden’s open border. Both possibilities are real risks. But there was also a third risk – doing nothing and allowing the world’s leading state sponsor of terror to build a nuclear weapon.
Moreover, Trump’s resolve to do what it takes to tame the Iranian government—backed up by action that makes his threats of future bombings credible—gives hope that his optimism is also realism.
What Americans need to do right now is to turn, as the President did at the end of his speech, to God. We need to pray for peace in Iran and the Middle East. Peace not as the mere temporary cessation of hostilities, but as the classical understanding of the tranquility of order. We need to pray for the president and our generals that they would be given wisdom to decide what kind of military threats and diplomatic communications will best lead to this peace.
God bless the Middle East, Israel, and the United States indeed. We have destroyed the nuclear capabilities of Iran. May their leaders come to their senses and come to negotiate quickly.
David P. Deavel teaches at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. A past Lincoln Fellow at the Claremont Institute, he is a Senior Contributor at The Imaginative Conservative. Follow him on X (Twitter) @davidpdeavel.
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