What's Driving Trump's Anger on Iran

There is a very powerful factor beneath the near-rabid assertions by President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu that Iran's three nuclear enrichment facilities were completely obliterated by American bunker buster bombs.

By all signs, this is not true. But it is the very foundation of the cover story for Israel's absolute defeat in its recent 12-Day War of Aggression that it inflicted on Iran. If the nuclear sites were not destroyed, then the U.S. and Israel would be bound to resume the war because of that supposedly horrifying danger of Iran creating and weaponizing a nuclear bomb, its prevention being the ostensible purpose of the sneak U.S. attack while Iran was still negotiating a resolution with the U.S.

Their problem is that Israel blundered big-time by attacking Iran. Israel is incapable of fighting anything but short wars. Iran, on the other hand, has been preparing for war with the U.S. since the Iranian Revolution in 1979. (In fact, Iran lost about 500,000 souls in a U.S.-instigated six-year war on Iran that saw the U.S. providing poison gas and targeting information for gas attacks on Iranian soldiers.)

Israel is tiny geographically and has an estimated population in 2025 of slightly over 10 million. Iran is nearly the size of Alaska, the largest U.S. state. It has a population of about 90 million. It's populace is well-educated. It produces its own guided missiles, including hypersonic missiles that are so fast and maneuverable that there is no defense against them. And Iran has produced a lot of them. Neither the U.S. nor Israel have maneuverable hypersonic missiles.

Israel's battle plan depended on the war being short and victorious. But Iran responded with a long war strategy of attrition. It targeted Israel with barrages of drones and older missiles, forcing Israel to badly deplete its stock of interceptor missiles. Iran used a few of its hypersonic missiles but saved most of them in reserve to finish the job once Israel ran out of interceptor missiles. The U.S. suffered a similar depletion U.S. interceptor missiles fired from naval vessels and carrier-based aircraft. Both Israel and the U.S. Navy were running low on interceptors./¹

Many of the older Iranian missiles made it through. Israel's Iron Dome, its Arrow defensive system and the AEGIS-equipped U.S. Navy could not cope with the Iranian rate of fire and the speed of its missiles. Larry Johnson has a good summary of the damage on Israel inflicted by Iran. https://sonar21.com/the-war-on-iran-is-not-over/ (Israel severely censored damage reporting, so it is probably far more severe than Johnson described at the time.)

In short, Israel was wide open for a fatal set of shots by hypersonic missiles. It had to end that war fast. Donald Trump to the rescue with 14 bunker buster Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs (out of the reported entire U.S. supply of 20, so only 6 MOPs left.) And a proclamation of complete obliteration of Iran's non-existent nuclear weapons program. He was quickly joined by Bibi Netanyahu, who also loudly proclaimed success in obliterating the purported Iranian nuclear threat.

During the U.S. attack, Donald Trump announced that the U.S. bombing mission was a one-off and wouldn't be repeated if Iran did not attack U.S. bases in the Mideast. But in negotiations, the U.S. consented to Iran doing a token attack on a U.S. base in Qatar, followed by a cease fire.

And a blast of false publicity, claiming victory for the U.S. and Israel.

But the supposed Iranian nuclear threat was never the real reason for the Israeli and U.S. war on Iran. Close observers agree that the real motive was the overthrow of the Iranian government, balkanizing it into smaller puppet states, and grabbing its natural resources.(/²) But according to public statements, the nuclear weapons threat had to have been convincingly eliminated, else the war would have to continue. And neither Israel nor the U.S. had any interest in stepping back into the Iranian firestorm's maelstrom.

So the lie about the U.S. bombing's success was essential: (i) to save face for Israel and the U.S.; and (ii) providing a "victory" excuse for ending the war without overthrowing the Iranian government.

That is why Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu are so angry about news that casts doubt on their lie. They do not want to admit defeat by Iran. But they are being severely questioned by the media about it.

In sum, Trump and Netanyahu are totally committed to their lie. Apparently, Iran will now enrich uranium without Israeli and U.S. interference. So the lie can accually preserve the peace. But there is a danger in pushing the issue of the lie; it is a lie intended to justify peace. Shattering the lie might goad Trump and Netanyahu into resuming the war, perhaps with more powerful weapons, e.g., tactical nuclear bombs.

   Notes:  

(1) See e.g., NBC: Israel is running out of weapons and ammunition. (25 June 2025). EADaily. https://eadaily.com/en/news/2025/06/25/nbc-israel-is-running-out-of-weapons-and-ammunition; and America Is Running Out of THAAD Ammunition for Israel (30 June 2025), Msn.com. Available at: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/america-is-running-out-of-thaad-ammunition-for-israel/ar-AA1GXsEX (Accessed: June 30, 2025); Paul McLeary, et al (1 July 2025), “Pentagon halting some promised munitions for Ukraine,” Politico. Available at: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/01/pentagon-munitions-ukraine-halt-00436048 (Accessed: July 2, 2025). (Note that U.S. naval vessels must return to port to have missiles replaced.)

(2) Michael Hudson (23 June 2025), Why America is at War with Iran, Michael Hudson. Available at: https://michael-hudson.com/2025/06/why-america-is-at-war-with-iran/ (Accessed: July 2, 2025); see also later video interview on the same topic, with transcript: https://michael-hudson.com/2025/07/the-war-beneath-the-war/.