Trump and Netanyahu shattered 45 years of Iranian terror

The appeasers were wrong. Again. Iran’s path to the bomb is over, thanks to two men who didn’t back down

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Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu will go down in history as the two men who put an end to Iran’s 45-year reign of terror.

They didn’t negotiate. They acted. In brilliantly executed operations—using deception, military precision and the best of American and Israeli technology—they dismantled Iran’s nuclear program. For this, they deserve the Nobel Peace Prize.

They won’t get it, of course. That’s reserved for progressive darlings who praise diplomacy while regimes like Iran buy time and build bombs.

Iran’s theocratic regime, in power since 1979, has left a trail of ruin across the Middle East and beyond. Millions have suffered under its tyranny. The world has grown numb to its brutality.

Consider just one example: the use of children as human minesweepers during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88). Thousands of boys, aged 12 to 17, were sent to their deaths to keep the mullahs in power. They wore red headbands with the words “Sar Allah” in Farsi (Warriors of God) and carried small metal keys the Ayatollah declared were their tickets to paradise if they were martyred in their mission. Many were sent into battle against Iraqi tanks without protection and were bound by ropes to prevent desertion.

The mullahs, of course, did not send their own children. Just as in the case of the countless suicide bombers and child soldiers they convinced to “martyr” themselves, they used children from poor families while the well-fed mullahs and their families remained safe in their cozy beds.

That kind of cold-blooded fanaticism wasn’t just a relic of the past. It drove Iran’s ongoing quest for nuclear weapons. For years, Western intelligence agencies—including Canada’s—have confirmed Iran’s race toward nuclear capability. The regime’s enrichment of uranium, combined with its ballistic missile development and ties to terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, made it the most dangerous force in the region.

Western leaders condemned it in speeches but consistently backed down when it came time to act.

Israel’s Operation Rising Lion and America’s Operation Midnight Hammer changed the equation. Trump gave Tehran 60 days to give up its nuclear program. On day 61, Israel struck. The widely reported rift between Trump and Netanyahu was theatre—a deliberate act of misdirection. Behind the scenes, the two men were united and prepared.

Such deception was critical. These operations were no routine airstrikes. Midnight Hammer involved 125 aircraft—jammers, drones, surveillance planes, refuelers, fighters and bombers—executing a tightly coordinated 25-minute mission. One mistake could have meant disaster. Instead, it was flawless. Even former CIA director David Petraeus praised its complexity. John Bolton, a relentless Trump critic, called it a service to the world.

It was only possible because of the groundwork laid by Netanyahu. After the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7, 2023, Israel hit back hard. Hezbollah was degraded. Syrian airspace was brought under control. With Iran’s proxies neutralized, Israel could strike directly. And it did.

It wasn’t just a military victory—it was a strategic one. Iran’s nuclear capability was crippled. And the myth of Western impotence was shattered.

Predictably, critics erupted. Trump was accused of acting unilaterally, of risking global war. The left attacked him out of reflex. Some on the right, like Tucker Carlson, accused him of warmongering. Others, like Alex Jones, warned of nuclear apocalypse.

But Iran’s reaction told the real story—a token missile strike on a U.S. base in Qatar. No escalation. No counter-offensive. Just silence.

Compare that to the records of former U.S. presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Obama’s 2015 Iran nuclear deal freed up billions of dollars for the regime, which it promptly used to fund terrorism across the region. Biden, during his presidency, continued the same policy of appeasement, including loosening enforcement of Trump-era sanctions and renewing talks that freed up resources for Iran’s destabilizing activities.

European leaders like French President Emmanuel Macron urged “de-escalation,” even as Tehran plotted destruction. Canada’s foreign policy, under both Conservative and Liberal governments, has largely mirrored this cautious Western posture. Ottawa has supported sanctions and diplomatic engagement, but has never openly endorsed pre-emptive action.

Trump and Netanyahu took a different path. They drew a line, then enforced it.

Gen. Wesley Clark said Trump’s bold action has established the principle that it is no longer acceptable for one nation (Iran) to base its entire existence on the destruction of another  (Israel).

Iran had used Israel for decades the way Hitler used the Jews—as a scapegoat for their own failures. But unlike past presidents, Trump didn’t flinch. He acted.

And the world took notice.

This wasn’t just about Iran. The operation struck at the heart of the CRINKs—China, Russia, Iran and North Korea—a loose alliance of authoritarian regimes working to undermine the West. Iran has long served as a destabilizing force in that group, funding proxy wars, bypassing sanctions and enabling Russia and China to expand their influence. Now it’s been sidelined.

Trump’s strategy—often mocked as chaotic—is in fact deliberate. Like Nixon’s “madman theory,” which was crafted to make enemies fear irrational and extreme U.S. retaliation, Trump uses unpredictability as a weapon. His critics still don’t understand it. But Iran does.

No matter what follows, the fact remains: Iran’s path to the bomb has been broken. Not delayed. Broken. And the Middle East, and the world, is safer for it.

Trump and Netanyahu won’t be applauded by the Nobel committee or the global press corps. They’ll be vilified. But history will remember what really happened.

They didn’t kick the can down the road. They crushed it.

Brian Giesbrecht is a retired judge and a senior fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.