The first military conflict initiated under Donald Trump’s Board of Peace has begun, marked by an unprovoked attempt at regime change in collaboration with Israel, launched without a legal foundation amidst ongoing diplomatic efforts and with limited consultation with Congress or the American public.
Trump Announces Attack on Iran
In a recorded eight-minute address following the initial bombings, Trump stated the strikes would not be limited to securing concessions at the negotiating table. He warned that members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) would be killed if they did not surrender, and the country’s armed forces, missile capabilities, and navy would be destroyed.
Trump indicated the aim was to create an opportunity for Iranian opposition groups and ethnic minorities to overthrow the current regime. “It’s time for all the people of Iran – Persians, Kurds, Azeris, Balochis and Akhvakhs – to shed from themselves the burden of tyranny and bring forth a free and peace-seeking Iran,” he said.
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated his country joined the attack “to remove the existential threat posed by the terrorist regime in Iran.”
The expansive goals of the joint attack raise doubts about the viability of US-Iranian negotiations held in recent weeks, which focused on potential limits to uranium enrichment. These talks occurred while the US assembled what Trump called his “beautiful armada” in the Middle East – the largest US force in the region since the 2003 Iraq invasion. Complete Iranian capitulation now appears to be the only condition that could halt the deployment of this military force.
Trump has frequently criticized the Iraq War, campaigning on a platform of ending US military entanglements abroad and seeking a Nobel peace prize based on the claim of having ended eight wars.
Just ten days prior to launching the attack, Trump hosted the inaugural meeting of his Board of Peace, intended to resolve conflicts globally, not just in the Middle East. The meeting included leaders and officials from 27 nations, many of which are autocracies, who praised Trump as a peacemaker.
Most of Washington’s European and international allies had grown skeptical of Trump’s motives and did not participate in the Board of Peace. The board was presented to the UN security council in November as the sole path to ending the conflict in Gaza, but it became apparent before the attacks on Iran that it was a “bait-and-switch” tactic, offering a rival body to the security council under Trump’s control.
The attack on Iran violates the UN charter in the absence of a credible, imminent Iranian threat to the US. Trump justified the action by denouncing the Iranian leadership as “a vicious group of very hard, terrible people” and citing 47 years of animosity between the US and Iran.
Over the past half-century, Iran has arguably posed less of a threat than it does now, weakened by a joint US and Israeli attack last June and decades of sanctions combined with economic hardship and protests.
The Board of Peace operates without requirements for justification, granting Trump the authority to make decisions unilaterally. Governments that joined the board now find themselves complicit in a conflict many oppose.
Possible motivations for the shift in Trump’s foreign policy include domestic political setbacks, a recent Supreme Court ruling limiting his use of tariffs, and ongoing scrutiny regarding his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
Wilbur Ross, Trump’s former commerce secretary, suggested the court ruling made an attack on Iran more likely. “I don’t think he can take this loss and then be seen as backing down on Iran,” Ross said.
Senator Chuck Schumer expressed concern about Trump’s potential actions, stating, “I’m really worried, because he gets so unhinged almost when he’s in trouble like this. I’m worried what he might do in Iran – who knows?”
Trump appeared to abandon his pursuit of a Nobel peace prize, telling the Norwegian prime minister last month that he no longer felt “an obligation to think purely of peace.”
Trump, having found greater success as a reality television personality than a property developer, appeared to view war as a distraction from his domestic challenges. He expressed enthusiasm for a successful raid on Venezuela in January, in which US special forces removed Nicolás Maduro from power.
Trump expects the Iranian people to instigate regime change following the US and Israeli attacks, with no plans for a ground invasion. He acknowledged the possibility of US casualties but the extent of acceptable losses remains unclear.
Congress, which constitutionally holds the power to declare war, has been largely sidelined. Eight congressional leaders were briefed by the secretary of state shortly before the State of the Union address, but Democratic senators expressed dissatisfaction with the justification provided for military action.
The justification for the attack on Iran, unlike the 2003 invasion of Iraq, has not been based on claims of weapons of mass destruction, but rather on general accusations and decades of animosity.
Ali Vaez, director of the Iran project at the International Crisis Group, stated that Iran has not demonstrated its full military capabilities and could inflict significant damage on its adversaries, potentially disrupting shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and utilizing various missile and drone technologies.
Iran’s allies, such as the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah, could also join the conflict in response to the attack.
“In all the years of war games…without exception one or two US warships would sink,” Vaez said.
The situation remains volatile as Trump pursues a course of action that could escalate into a wider conflict in the Middle East.
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