US President Donald Trump appears to be increasingly embracing Israel’s war effort against Iran. This is because Israel is winning.
The IAF has shown that it can carry out daily sorties against Iran, striking hundreds of targets and preventing many Iranian ballistic-missile launches.
Rather than having to rely on the US, Israel is conducting an extraordinary war that conjures up memories of the Six Day War in 1967. Over the past six days, Iran has been greatly weakened.
Trump wanted a deal with Iran in the early months of his term. He sent his envoy Steve Witkoff to talks in Oman. The Iranians wanted indirect talks and sought to slow the talks down.
Tehran believed that Trump was willing to be very flexible to get a deal. While Iran stalled, Israel waited for an opportunity. That opportunity came last Friday.
Israel has the air defenses to stop Iran’s attacks. They proved themselves in 2024 when Iran launched hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones at Israel.
Furthermore, Iran has lost Hezbollah and the Assad regime in Syria as allies that might have presented Israel with a multifront war. Tehran failed to understand the chessboard in front of it as it lost key pieces over the past two years.
The Trump administration’s doctrine is complex. It doesn’t want more foreign wars, and it wants ceasefire deals.
Trump likes a winner
Nevertheless, Trump also likes winners. He doesn’t want to back losers abroad. He wants US allies who are strong and who will do their own work.
The Trump administration is willing to be flexible and inventive in foreign policy, but it didn’t want to drag the US into a war with Iran.
A weakened Iran now gives Trump the ability to maneuver more. That is why he has called for “unconditional surrender,” channeling the terms that Ulysses S. Grant presented to the Confederacy. The concept of unconditional surrender has often been key to US policy.
Trump is also willing to up the stakes regarding Iran’s supreme leader. “We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, his social-media platform.
Trump is not only channeling the Civil War-era general Grant. He is also channeling George Patton’s speech to the US Third Army in 1944. The speech was made famous by the film Patton in 1970.
“Men, all this stuff you hear about America not wanting to fight, wanting to stay out of the war, is a lot of horse dung,” Patton said. “Americans love to fight. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble shooter, the fastest runner, the big-league ball players, and the toughest boxers. Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time. The very thought of losing is hateful to America.”
When Trump speaks about making America “great again,” he is speaking about the America that Patton was talking about. That was an America that didn’t lose wars.
Since 1944, the US has faced conflicts it wasn’t able to win, for instance, Vietnam. Also, the US fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, and neither were successful.
Trump has seen Israel weaken Iran, and he appears to be impressed. He is more impressed with this than the more than 600-day Gaza war in which he wanted a ceasefire.
The Israel-Hamas War in Gaza has not been a winning war. The Iran war is a winning war.
The Trump Doctrine is now being tested. There are isolationist voices who oppose US involvement in the war on Iran. There are others who want the US to intervene. There are many people in the middle.
Most Americans likely do not want another costly Middle East war. But if the US can step in and deliver the final blow, like a closer in baseball pitching, then people might see it as a win.
Trump wants a win for his doctrine. He hasn’t gotten an end to the Ukraine war, and the Gaza war is dragging on. He has been more successful with tariffs and other domestic policies.
Iran may provide the administration with an important achievement for its first year in office. It can take credit for Israel’s success and channel it to Trump’s own ends.