As of Saturday, it has been two weeks and a day since President Donald Trump wrote: “If Iran shots and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J.TRUMP.”
It has been four days since he wrote: “Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price. I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY. MIGA!!! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP.”
There has been and continues to be a great deal of speculation as to what has happened to prevent the president from sending the promised help and coming to the rescue of the Iranian protesters. One report stated Trump called off an attack at the last minute at the behest of Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. Trump himself, however, has denied that, saying on Friday: “Nobody convinced me. I convinced myself. You had yesterday scheduled over 800 hangings. They didn't hang anyone. They canceled the hangings. That had a big impact."
Tehran prosecutor Ali Salehi, however, was contemptuous of the claim that the executions had been definitively canceled: “Trump always talks nonsense and without any reason, and he’s out of line. Our response is firm, deterrent and swift. A large number of cases have now led to indictments and have been sent to court.”
Iran’s supreme leader is taking Trump’s inaction as a sign of weakness, and is clearly emboldened. After a series of statements on Saturday morning blaming the U.S. for the unrest in Iran, the Ayatollah Khamenei claimed victory and vowed retribution: “Yes, we extinguished the fire of the sedition, but that isn’t enough. The US must be held accountable.” Perceiving Trump as spineless, Khamenei will likely step up his attacks on U.S. interests, and those of America's allies.
Such a course of action, however, carries considerable risk. There remains the possibility that Trump’s professed credulity regarding Iran stopping executions is just a feint, and that an attack is still coming. Every day that nothing happens, however, reinforces the contention that he was simply issuing empty threats, and cannot be trusted.
If Trump’s apparent decision not to strike the Islamic Republic remains unchanged, and if the Islamic Republic weathers this storm and continues on its bloodthirsty and repressive way, there could be serious consequences not only for American interests in the Middle East, but for domestic politics as well. If Trump does not act against the Islamic Republic after promising so robustly to do so, this is very likely to become a Democrat campaign talking point in both 2026 and 2028.
Trump’s foes will accuse him of conducting a foreign policy whose principal characteristics were naivete and empty bluster, leading to a credulous trust not only of the pro-Hamas Muslim Brotherhood sponsor Qatar, but of the Islamic Republic of Iran as well, even in the hour of the deepest need of those whom Trump addressed as “Iranian patriots.” After the Trump administration has accomplished so very much to unravel the extremely intricate and tangled web of corruption that socialist internationalist authoritarians have woven in order to enrich themselves and keep themselves in power, if he doesn’t end up acting against the Islamic Republic, those same socialist internationalists will exploit that inaction with everything they’ve got.
Related: Iran’s Khamenei Is Talking About Trump Like a Man Who Just Won a War
Just a few years ago, it looked as if the left’s victory in America was assured and very nearly complete. Those who refused to play along with the left’s emperor-new-clothes games were duly deplatformed and silenced. The Biden regime pressured the social media giants to engage in this censorship, and they complied with alacrity. Donald Trump was a “convicted felon” and patriots were “insurrectionists.” The border was a line on a piece of paper, and you were a racist and a bigot if you thought it should be protected.
Trump has made heroic and extraordinary efforts to roll all of that back and make America once again a nation of laws, borders, and national integrity. But the situation now with the Islamic Republic of Iran is extremely delicate, and has made him, in the eyes of all too many, look weak and cowardly. If he doesn’t do something to dispel that impression, and do it soon, all of his good work could come to naught, and the socialist authoritarians will resume on Jan. 20, 2029 the work they did to destroy America between 2021 and 2025.
Tired of the establishment media spin? Get the truth at PJ Media. Become a VIP member today — you'll get all our content and none of the ads. Use code FIGHT for 60% off.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member