Trump Backed the Strikes. Now Israel Burns and the World Braces

As Trump openly colludes with Israel’s unlawful assault on Iran, his threats of mass violence and dismissal of US intelligence are accelerating a global crisis—and leaving Tulsi Gabbard at a moral cro

Donald Trump’s golden escalator announcement in 2015 declaring he would contest the 2016 US Presidency shuddered the world - the idea of him becoming President was a thought too horrifying to consider.

Trump was seen as dangerously ignorant of foreign affairs, volatile in temperament, and indifferent to the norms of diplomacy. Ten years later, those fears have become a nightmarish reality. Six months into Trump’s second tilt as President of the US, He’s not just destabilising institutions—he’s actively setting the world on fire.

On June 13, Israeli jets launched a sweeping and unlawful pre-emptive strike on Iranian military infrastructure. The attack, condemned internationally for violating sovereignty and risking regional war, had the full knowledge and backing of Trump. In a post on Truth Social, Trump boasted of his foreknowledge and support, declaring the strike a “strategic win” and warning the people of Tehran to evacuate or face “death and destruction.”

The fallout was immediate—and brutal. Hezbollah rocket fire intensified in northern Israel. Militia groups across Iraq and Syria threatened retaliation. Cyberattacks followed. As air raid sirens wailed and flames consumed parts of Haifa and northern towns, Israel began to burn.

This isn’t an unintended consequence it’s the natural result of a foreign policy driven by bluster, authoritarian instincts, and absolute disregard for diplomacy.

What makes the prospect of escalation even more dangerous is the context in which it has unfolded. In the weeks preceding the Israeli attack, reports began to emerge Iran and the US were quietly exploring renewed diplomatic channels. Iranian officials, weary from sanctions and seeking stability, signalled openness to backchannel dialogue.

Whether the overtures were genuine or tactical, they were met by Trump with deceit.

While no evidence exists confirming a coordinated ruse, the perception among analysts and many in the international community is that the US extended a false olive branch to delay Iranian defences and set the stage for Israel’s attack. Trump’s own statements, full of triumphalism and threats, added fuel to that suspicion.

What followed was the obliteration of trust—between Iran and the US, but also between Washington and much of the world. For decades, the US positioned itself as a guarantor of peace, a convener of negotiations. That veneer is gone. Under Trump, diplomacy has become weaponised, used not to build peace but to prepare war.

Caught up in the furore of the beating drums of war is Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence and former anti-war firebrand. In March 2025, Gabbard testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee with a clear, public assessment:

“The intelligence community continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon, and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003.”

This statement wasn’t controversial. It echoed the longstanding consensus within the US intelligence community. But it directly contradicted the worldview Donald Trump was determined to impose.

And only days ago, Trump was asked by a journalist travelling Air Force 1 with him about Gabbard’s assessment – Trump dismissed it outright:

“I don’t care what she said. I think they’re very close to having a nuclear bomb. That’s all that matters.”

Trump’s comment wasn’t only a rebuke of his own intelligence director—it was a declaration of policy by personal instinct, untethered from fact.

For Gabbard, once praised for her moral clarity and anti-interventionist principles, it is a defining moment. To remain in her post after being publicly humiliated and ignored, to silently endorse a march to war she clearly doesn’t believe in, would be to abandon everything she once stood for.

Her resignation could send a powerful signal that truth, principle, and restraint still have defenders. Staying would confirm what her critics fear—that she has become another enabler of Trump’s chaotic rule, a once-vocal dissenter turned silent insider.

Iran, furious and now fully mobilised, has vowed a proportionate response. Armed groups aligned with Tehran have already acted. Israeli cities are burning—symbolically and literally. The region is teetering on the edge of a wider war. And far from pulling back, Trump appears ready to escalate further.

The language is no longer diplomatic. It’s apocalyptic. Trump’s threats to Tehran—backed by American carrier groups in the Gulf and unrelenting Israeli air campaigns—read more like ultimatums than statecraft.

America’s allies are deeply uneasy. Some European governments have expressed concern Trump is dragging the World into a war of choice with potentially irreversible consequences. Meanwhile, Russia and China have seized the opportunity to denounce US aggression and expand their influence in the Global South—where anti-American sentiment is once again surging.

For millions across the Middle East, this is confirmation of a painful truth: that the US and Israel will stop at nothing to maintain regional dominance, even if it means war, lies, and collective punishment.

Trump’s actions are not isolated blunders. They represent a broader unravelling of the post-World War II global order. Multilateralism is in retreat. Diplomacy is in ruins. International law is ignored with impunity. And one man—driven by ego, vengeance, and a desire for control—is holding the match.

The danger isn’t just another US - backed war. It’s that this time, the world may not follow. As Israel burns, and global powers draw lines in the sand, the world faces the possibility of multi-theatre escalation—from Lebanon to the Gulf, from Syria to cyberspace.

The concern is no longer whether Trump might start a war. It’s how many he’ll start—and who can stop him.