There is no doubt that the regime in Iran is one of the world’s worst, but.....

There is no doubt that the regime in Iran is one of the world’s most violent and repressive regimes which has killed thousands of its own people. However, the war which U.S. President Donald Trump has started with a massive bombing campaign appears to have been launched without a plan and is loaded with deadly consequences.

The Middle East has long been a powder keg, and as Trump blithely donned his white ball cap emblazoned with the initials U.S.A. to announce his campaign of bombing Iran in partnership with Israel, he didn’t appear to know what he was getting into.

This is the same president who openly covets the Nobel Peace Prize, who once said the war-torn Gaza Strip could become a new Mediterranean Riviera complete with luxury hotels, and who has deployed the U.S. National Guard and I.C.E. agents against American cities.

​Trump perhaps believed that his bombing campaign could halt the slide of his personal popularity heading into next fall’s mid-term elections, and that his beloved stock market would respond well to the air strikes. Instead, launching the war against Iran has not reaped favorable reviews and the stock market tanked on day four of the campaign, while oil prices have shot up.

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U.S. Congressional leaders in the U.S. were furious about the launching of this war without consultation with them.

This is the same president who promised in July of 2024 that he could settle the Russia-Ukraine war in one day if elected again. That war rages on, after four years.

The Committee for Peace, under Trump’s own chairmanship, designed to bring peace to Gaza and beyond, has foundered even as the much-vaunted ceasefire has been broken numerous times and the UK, Canada, France and Germany are not involved. The main participants are oil-rich Gulf states ready to contribute the $1 Billion U.S. entry fee.

This Trump-sponsored committee is his alternative to the United Nations, which the U.S. President doesn’t like, but which includes virtually all nations whether rich or poor.

We must ask whether Trump is credible in his predictions of war or peace.

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney initially lauded the air strikes as an effort to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb. Who would disagree with this? But Carney has not committed any Canadian troops to the effort and simply continued with his trade mission to countries such as India and Australia.

He also said later he supported the bombing campaign “with regret” and said the actions were likely “inconsistent with international law.”

Wise observers such as Bob Rae, Canada’s former ambassador to the United Nations, stated that while regime change in Iran would be very welcome, that is not going to be brought about by pounding from the air.

 While most Western states would welcome regime change in Iran (even Russia and China did not rush to Iran’s defense) Rae and others suggest that regime change will have to achieved by the Iranians themselves, with appropriate international safeguards such as those set by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) against the development of a nuclear bomb.

Back in June, President Trump claimed that the earlier series of bomb strikes had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear development capability. It seems that objective was not achieved.

Following on from Rae’s comments, it is worth remembering two other recent wars when efforts were made to bring about regime change. The Iraq War (2003-2011) in which Canada under then Prime Minister Jean Chretien wisely refused to take part, resulted in the rapid ouster of Saddam Hussein (as has occurred in Iran with the killing of Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei). The Iraq invasion resulted in 4,400 American deaths and thousands more Iraqis killed, and chaotic conditions continuing.

The Afghanistan war which lasted close to twenty years (2001-2021) took the lives of 2,461 American, 451 British, and 158 Canadian soldiers and did not result in the defeat of the Taliban. In fact, the Taliban are now engaging in a border war with their neighbor, Pakistan.

Like the Iranian regime, Afghan Taliban have been brutally repressive of their own people, particularly women and girls.

International pressure remains vital. A totally “hands off” approach also is unwise. As former U.S. president Barack Obama said in his speech at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington on April 23, 2012: “Sovereignty is not a license for mass destruction.”

Now, Trump has launched his bombing war with the full support of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has clung to power in his country by prolonging war against Hamas and the Palestinian peoples still looking for their own country. Nonetheless, opposition leaders in Israel such as Yair Lapid quickly fell in behind Netanyahu, as Iranian drones began killing Israeli civilians.

Netanyahu heaped praise on Trump for his bombing action, as the war has spread across the Middle East including states such a Kuwait, Bahrain, Quatar, The United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and even Sri Lanka and Cyprus.

Trump was slow to explain his rational for the bombing campaign, but his “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth came out with guns blazing on Wednesday defending Operation Epic Fury, stating: “If you kill Americans—we will hunt you down, and we will kill you. Iran is learning the hard way.”

Nonetheless, the current Iranian regime still appears to be durable, and Mojtaba, the son of the late Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, appears to be consolidating power. We can only hope that the slaughter of civilians in Iranian streets does not resume.

Prime Minister Carney has improved his standing in Canada and abroad because of his determination to diversify Canada’s trade links after countless and ever-changing tariffs from the U.S.A.

Carney also has had broad support for his Davos speech when he urged a new path for middle powers, working to achieve an independent course from superpowers like Russia, China and the U.S.

Still, Carney has lost some feathers from his quick approval for the U.S. bombing attacks in Iran and in recent days is working to overcome that.

Meanwhile the law of deadly and sometimes-unintended consequences in the fog of war, continue to apply. The U.S. claimed that the killing of 150 girls in the bombing of an Iranian school was not intentional. The new Middle East war rages on.

The deployment of ultra sophisticated aircraft carriers such as those in use near Iran, do not prevent Iranian proxy groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon from fighting on. Iran remains a very strategically placed country with much of the world’s oil still making a risky passage aboard tankers through the Strait of Hormuz off the Iranian coast.