A distinction must be made—one that is both intellectually honest and politically necessary. Israel’s stance toward Iran does not follow the same logic as that of the United States, and it would be as inaccurate as it is convenient to confuse the two.

For decades, Israel has lived under the explicit threat of a regime that has enshrined its destruction in its state doctrine. This is not mere rhetoric: it is a reality made tangible every day by tens of thousands of Hezbollah missiles in the north, Iranian drones flying over its territory, and the funding of Hamas in Gaza.

The Israeli operation against Iranian nuclear sites in June 2025 did not come out of nowhere. It was the result of years of preparation—intelligence, sabotage, deep-strike operations against Iranian ballistic capabilities, and the methodical elimination of the proxy command chain. Israel also has a clear doctrine, consistent since Begin: no hostile power in the region may acquire nuclear weapons. This line was upheld in Iraq in 1981, in Syria in 2007, and it was upheld in Iran in 2025. One can debate the international legality of these preemptive strikes—the debate is legitimate. But one cannot deny that they are part of a coherent strategy, driven by a real existential threat, and prepared with the rigor demanded by the survival of a state.

The U.S. war in Iran was decided by a single man, without a legal mandate, without serious preparation, and without regard for his allies, dragging the world’s leading military power into this war—and who is now preparing to leave the consequences to others.

Sometimes it takes a little distance to gauge the scale of a disaster. Three weeks after the outbreak of war in Iran, that distance has not mitigated anything—it has amplified everything. What Donald Trump has done in the Middle East since February 28, 2026, is not an error of judgment, nor a strategic gamble that went wrong. It is the predictable, well-documented outcome of a man who has always prioritized gut instinct over rigorous thought—and who now has the world’s greatest military power at his disposal to act on his impulses.

His problem now: how to spin a fiasco—or even a disaster—into a Trump-style victory? For the moment, Donald Trump has found only one solution: to wage a war in search of the slightest tactical success to claim victory before abandoning the U.S. allies and partners. Once again!