LIZ PEEK: Trump is putting America first by backing Iran into a corner
As Iran teeters on the brink of revolution, the possible dethroning of the globe’s most malignant sponsor of terror would be another massive shake-up in the world order – one that would benefit the United States and her allies and for which President Donald Trump can take much credit.
If Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is forced to flee Tehran, and a new government ultimately takes his place, the people of Iran will thank Trump. Already they are renaming streets in his honor, and rightly so; his persistent pressure on the theocratic regime over many years has weakened them and their proxies.
Trump has threatened to retaliate if the mullahs shoot protesters and over the weekend said the United States "stands ready to help"; without a doubt they take his threats seriously. By successfully bombing their nuclear facilities in August, he showed yet again that he is unafraid of using American power. He also demonstrated the extraordinary capability of the U.S. military, a lethal competence also recently displayed in extracting Venezuela dictator Nicolas Maduro.
Last June, during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran, Trump said, "We know exactly where the so-called 'Supreme Leader' is hiding." He added, He is an easy target, but is safe there. We are not going to take him out [kill], at least not for now. But we don't want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin."
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From the sound of it, the president’s patience is wearing thin again. Though the authorities have shut down most communications and the internet, word has leaked out that some 500 protesters have been killed and more than 10,000 imprisoned. Some claim the numbers are even higher.
It was not the first time Trump has battled the theocracy. In 2020, he ordered the assassination by drone of Major General Qassem Soleimani, head of the powerful Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps. Suleimani was responsible, as the New York Times reported at the time, for "nearly every significant operation by Iranian intelligence and military forces over the past two decades, and his death was a staggering blow for Iran at a time of sweeping geopolitical conflict."
Suleimani, who devised lethal IED warfare against U.S. GIs in the Middle East and elsewhere, had the blood of countless Americans on his hands. Khamenei vowed vengeance and the region prepared for retaliation, but little came. The mullahs feared confronting Trump.
Trump has also steadfastly supported Israel, in particular, backing their aggressive confrontation with Iran’s proxy Hamas in retaliation for the terror group’s brutal Oct. 7 attacks. While his predecessor, President Joe Biden, pledged "unwavering" support for Israel, waver he did under withering attacks from pro-Palestinian Democrats.
During his 2024 State of the Union Address, Biden denounced Israel’s pursuit of Hamas in Gaza. He also levied sanctions on Israeli settlers in the West Bank and weighed sanctioning IDF units for suspected human rights violations. In addition, he refused to give Israel the 2,000-pound bombs they wanted to destroy tunnels and facilities used by Hamas. Finally, during his last year in office, Biden explicitly stated he would not support an IDF strike on Iranian nuclear sites even as Tehran carried out a missile attack on Israel, ceding U.S. authority to a coordinated G7 response instead.
In June 2025, Israel launched what Trump called the 12-day war, bombing Iranian military and nuclear sites. Trump supported the engagement; partnering with Jordan, the U.S. helped defend Israel from Iranian retaliation.
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Hamas was not the only Iranian proxy hammered by Trump. Early in his second term Trump ordered stepped-up airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen, in response to their attacks on commercial and naval shipping in the Red Sea. Incredibly, Biden had removed the "terrorist" designation that Trump had given the Houthis; Trump put it back. `
Hezbollah, too, has come under attack from Trump, which may intensify in coming days. The Lebanese terror group is reportedly on the ground in Iran helping to suppress protests, which puts them in the crosshairs.
After meeting with Trump at the White House in December, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told officials in his government that the U.S. president gave him a "green light" to launch an attack in Lebanon, according to Israeli reporting. Trump evidently agreed that dismantling the terror group was important, but reportedly asked Netanyahu to wait until U.S. negotiations with Lebanon were concluded.
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In coming days, the fate of the Iranian government will become clear. It the mullahs decamp and a pro-western administration emerges, the entire world, and especially western nations, Israel and the Gulf Arab states will be better off. From his first years in office, President Trump helped facilitate this chain of events, initially by leveling severe sanctions on Tehran’s oil industry that caused its exports and revenues to shrink.
During Trump’s first term, Iran’s foreign currency reserves plummeted from a high of $122 billion to $18 billion; Joe Biden took his foot off the brake, allowing Tehran to rebuild its oil exports (from less than half a million barrels per day to more than 1.5 million b/d) and its reserves. Biden also approved the transfer of $6 billion to Tehran, in exchange for a prisoner swap, giving the mullahs even more money to fund their terror allies.
Joe Biden’s coddling of Iran was one of the worst foreign policy disasters of the past four years, confirming former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates’ pronouncement that Biden had been wrong on every foreign policy and national security issue of the past 40 years.
Thankfully, Trump is clear-eyed about America’s interests in the Middle East. In 2023, Biden famously said, in a rare Oval Office address, "American leadership is what holds the world together." Yes, it does, and under President Trump we have seen an extraordinary wielding of U.S. power in defense of our allies, while always, without exception, putting America first.