Trump gives world a lesson in peace through strength

Donald Trump’s astounding achievement in brokering a “complete and total” ceasefire between Iran and Israel shows Ronald Reagan’s “peace through strength” mantra, when he successfully confronted the Soviet Union, is as relevant today as it was in the great nuclear-armed superpower stand-off of the 1980s. Assuming the US President’s ceasefire holds – and there were early signs that not everyone in Iran had got the message – it should demonstrate to faint hearts, including Anthony Albanese, Penny Wong and others across the world, that there are times when, perversely, escalation is the only way to achieve de-escalation in conflicts such as that of the past 12 days.

Apprehensions about Israel’s launch of its Operation Rising Lion bombardment of Iran on June 13 and then the US’s spectacular entry into the conflict on Sunday, with its massive attack on key Iranian nuclear sites, were understandable. So were the nervous calls for de-escalation negotiations. But those calls were misplaced and meaningless. They showed a naive misunderstanding of Middle East realpolitik.

Mr Trump deserves global praise for his bold achievement. Despite a face-saving barrage from Tehran, a statement issued by the Israeli Prime Minister’s office said: “Israel has achieved all the objectives of Operation Rising Lion.” It thanked Mr Trump and the US “for their support in defence and for their role in removing the Iranian nuclear threat”.

Seldom has a ceasefire anywhere been cobbled together in less propitious circumstances. Even many of Mr Trump’s most senior officials reportedly were unaware of what had been going on as the President, following Monday’s “weak” Iranian retaliatory attack on the big US Al Udeid military base in Qatar, seized the initiative by appealing to Qatari leaders for help in strongarming Iran into recognising the reality of looming defeat and agreeing to a ceasefire.

With much of Iran’s leadership killed or, like supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in hiding, it was not clear who could sanction the deal. In the end Iran claimed credit for the ceasefire, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claiming it had “imposed” the deal on Israel.

Precise details of the agreement remain uncertain. But if the deal does achieve an end to the fighting and leads to a form of peace between the two sides – something that seemed inconceivable only days ago – that would be an achievement of immense significance that would have far-reaching consequences for not only the Middle East but also the wider world. Both Vladimir Putin, in his monstrous killing spree in Ukraine, and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, as he contemplates invading Taiwan, have much to learn from the massive power mobilised and unleashed by the US in a matter of days that brought the ayatollahs to their knees.

After decades of Israelis being threatened with total annihilation and the slaughter of all Jews by Iran’s lunatic ayatollahs, the ceasefire is hopefully the start for Israel and more broadly the Middle East of what Mr Trump terms a new “golden age”. Peace through strength appears to have won a major victory. But it should not be forgotten that there remains a long way to go before the religious fanatics who have held Iran in an iron grip for 40 years are definitively defeated. It also must not be forgotten that the return of Israeli hostages held captive by the Hamas terrorists in Gaza remains unfinished business. It was the gruesome atrocities of October 7, 2023 that led to the position that Iran and the broader Middle East find themselves today. Having been exposed on the battlefield by the combined might of Israel and the US, Iran’s leaders must disavow their terrorist proxies and allow reconstruction efforts to begin to restore freedom, dignity and opportunity to the people their malevolent behaviour has impoverished and enslaved for decades.