Yesterday morning the world woke up to news that the U.S. had bombed three underground nuclear facilities in Iran, doing a job that Israel couldn’t with just their missiles and drones.
A gloating US President Donald Trump took to social media shortly later, praising airmen who dropped bunker-busting bombs on the sites in Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow.
"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," he said.
Who calls for peace after committing an act of war?
While the U.S. used smart bombs for this attack, we aren’t so sure it was a smart move. A bold move? Yes. But not so smart when it comes to de-escalating violence in that region.
On one hand, there is no other perfect time to attack Iran. It’s armaments have been largely devastated by Israeli attacks, it no longer has Syria to back it up, it’s proxies like Hezbollah and the Houthis have been decimated, and it’s biggest ally, Russia, is tied up in war a halfway around the world that it cannot afford to lose sight of even for a second.
On the other hand, the timing of this attack couldn’t be worse. Iran has been practically begging the U.S. to rein Israel in. The best the U.S. could have done was ask Israel to back off, the worst it could have done was do nothing. But then Trump chose another path entirely.
Any escalation of the situation there always has the possibility to drag the entire region into war. And the U.S. just committed what can be considered an act of war against Iran.
Iran has reserved the right to respond to the attack. They are in essence saying what we mean when we say “lintik lang ang walang ganti” or “wala’y sukod sa bawos”.
Experts say that aside from Iran’s military they also have missiles, militias, and terrorism on hand. It can just even close the Strait of Hormuz and wait for the price of oil to become too much of a burden.
The U.S. has good reason to be wary of from where or how Iran’s retaliation will come.