Only Iranian surrender will end its nuclear threat - opinion
If these locations are as numerous as we fear, it will be impossible to entirely strip that country of its future nuclear capacity and its willingness to employ such weaponry.
IRANIAN FLAGS fly as fire and smoke rise from an Israeli attack on the Sharan oil depot in Tehran on Sunday. The world watches as Israel exercises the most basic right of any sovereign state: the right of self-defense, says the writer. (photo credit: WEST ASIA NEWS AGENCY/REUTERS)ByWALTER E. BLOCK, JACOB KOHN
Thank goodness, Donald Trump has had the US military bomb a few Iranian nuclear locations. This included the Fordow nuclear site, which is buried 300 feet below the surface of the earth in a mountain some 100 miles south of Tehran. Only the “bunker buster” was equal to this task. It required a B-2 stealth bomber, since the payload weighed in at some 15 tons. Israel lacked the bomb itself and an aircraft capable of carrying it to such a target.
Mr. Trump could have sold or lent these two items to the Jewish state, and skilled Israeli pilots could have done this job for themselves. That would have saved the president from breaking his promise to keep the US out of foreign military entanglements.
However, at the time he made that promise, it would have been difficult for him to predict the situation he was faced with when he made that decision on June 20, 2025. As well, he did also promise that Iran would never have nuclear bomb capability, and what he authorized on that day was one good way of keeping that particular promise.
Why was President Trump entitled to do just that?
This stems from two considerations. First, Israel was justified, more than justified, to launch an attack on the Persian state. For one thing, Iran had long been engaging in unjustified violence against Israel. It did so directly, and even more so via its triple H proxies: Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. Even apart from these physical provocations, Iran had long been threatening the utter annihilation of the State of Israel. For example, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini denounced Israel as a “cancerous tumor.”
Not to be outdone by him, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatened that Israel will cease to exist by 2040. In the view of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, former president of Iran: “Israel has no roots in the Middle East and would be eliminated.”
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, August 24, 2025. (credit: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS)
Those threats alone would have more than justified the Jewish state in making physical responses of a defensive nature.
Secondly, the US and Israel are allies. When one partner is in trouble, unable to completely fulfill its mission, in this case regarding Fordow, it is incumbent upon the other to give all reasonable support. Yes, the US is the elephant in this relationship and Israel the mouse, but they are allies, and people in such relationships support each other.
Speaking of mice, Israel really is Mighty Mouse. Imagine a country of some nine million taking on and thoroughly devastating a nation some tenfold bigger, at a population of roughly 90 million. Not only is Israel the Mouse that Roared regarding Iran, but this also pertains to the US itself. It cannot be denied that the Israeli hi-tech sector is the envy of the world.
Yes, yes, to be sure, Mr. Trump violated the US Constitution that reserves for Congress, not the Executive, the power to declare war. But this is a dead letter. The last time this country followed that proviso was in 1941, and it has been at war upon numerous occasions afterward.
However, the latest communication from Mr. Trump is more than just a little disquieting. He avers: “Congratulations to our great American Warriors. There is not another military in the World that could have done this [Fordow, etc.]. NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE!”
Not so, not so. Even he has called for “unconditional surrender.” We cannot have it both ways. At the time of this writing, to be sure, Iran is reeling is disarray. But it is nowhere near any surrender, unconditional or not. The Israeli incursion cannot be seen as successful merely in rendering Iran impotent in terms of nuclear capability. If nothing else changes, that terrorist nation can still wreak havoc against the only civilized country in the Middle East, whether directly or via its HHH proxies.
So the job is not yet done. Regime change is imperative. The average Iranian is far more put upon by his leaders than he is a danger to the world, like they are. Indeed, the Israelis and now the US are not making war on the citizenry of Iran. This is evidenced by the fact that they have aimed their weaponry at military and nuclear targets. In sharp contrast, those Iranian terrorists, as is their wont, have focused on Israeli non-combatants.
Iran has hidden its nuclear weapons development all over the place: in various known and unknown locations. Many of them are presumably located in areas that are as inaccessible as possible, such as Fordow. The US and Israel can bomb until the cows come home. If these locations are as numerous as we fear, it will be impossible to entirely strip that country of its future nuclear capacity and its willingness to employ such weaponry. Only full Iranian surrender will accomplish this very necessary task.■
