We have all heard the saying about the “best laid plans of mice and men,” but how about the best laid plans of Donald Trump and Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu — their scheme to reshape the Middle East into a terrorism-free, Iran-neutralized region?
Oops… the “best laid plans” of anyone can indeed “go awry.” The Middle East is now a mess.
Netanyahu always had his eye on the prize, the elimination of Iran as a threat. He found an ally in Trump, who became like the drunken sailor of yore after his overnight success in Venezuela in bringing down a ruling government in a few hours flat with no casualties.
The latest incidents involving Iran, Israel, and the U.S. reveal that the Middle East has indeed been changed, but not for the better. The whole region is now in crisis and could go up in flames over the slightest provocation.
Consider these happenings: This past week, Israel bombed a Hezbollah command center in Beirut, and in response, Iran sent missiles into Israel. Trump tried to settle matters, but as before with the Iranian ceasefire, there is now only a facade of spoken restraint. Israel is still carrying out operations in Lebanon. Iran could retaliate at any time.
Then, just this week — yesterday, to be exact — Iran shot down a U.S. helicopter, and the U.S. responded with strikes on Iran. Iran retaliated by sending missiles into U.S. bases in the Middle East. We’re still awaiting Trump’s response.
I forgot one other party, the Houthis in Yemen. They’ve now begun choking off traffic from Israel into the Red Sea. Along with the Iranian chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, this makes two major seaways closed to international commerce.
Meanwhile, the president keeps insisting that Iran is only a day or two away from a deal to end the standoff and open up the Strait of Hormuz before the world goes bankrupt. Does anyone still believe such an optimistic, too-often-repeated assessment?
Donald Trump entered office in January 2026 cocksure that he was on path to earning the Nobel Peace Prize. First off, he’d talk Vladimir Putin into ending his Ukraine campaign. Instead, Vlad won the art of the deal on that count and is still aiming to take over Ukraine and fold it back into a renewed Soviet Union, though without that moniker. Now — even worse — many believe Trump himself to be a warmonger.
I hate to say it, but the world is teetering on the edge of an abyss. The Middle East is in shambles, and no one knows how to sew the region’s fabric of coexistence back together again. Iran and the IRGC aren’t giving up anytime soon, and neither is Vlad on the European front.
Peace Prize for Trump, anyone? How about a long vacation from office so Marco Rubio and/or JD Vance can resolve the situation in the Middle East?
