A spotlight seeking Trump The Excelsior 07 Mar 2026
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A spotlight seeking Trump The Excelsior 07 Mar 2026
On July 19th last year, as part of Operation Midnight Hammer, seven US B2 bombers dropped fourteen GBU-57 (Guided Bomb Unit) MOP (Massive Ordnance Penetrator) bombs alongside two dozen Tomahawk missiles, launched from US submarines, on Iran’s three key nuclear facilities of Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan. The US employed fighter aircraft to enable the bombers to achieve their objectives without hinderance.
Immediately after the strikes, Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary mentioned, ‘Iran’s nuclear ambitions have been obliterated.’ Trump added, ‘Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.’ He also said, ‘It would take years to bring them back into service.’
Hegseth went even further and said, ‘Thanks to President Trump’s bold and visionary leadership and his commitment to peace through strength, Iran’s nuclear ambitions have been obliterated.’ It is now less than a year and the US launched strikes again at the same targets, employing far more power. Why was there a need to strike if the last US attack was successful and it would take years for them to rebuild.
The implications are that US strikes of 2025 were a failure, which Trump tried to hide. Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy mentioned, ‘They’ve been enriching well beyond the number that you need for civil nuclear. It’s up to 60%. They are probably a week away from having industrial-grade bomb-making material, and that’s really dangerous.’ The US Vice President, JD Vance stated, ‘Our primary interest here is, we don’t want Iran to get a nuclear weapon.’
It is also possible that Iran is just an excuse to shift focus from internal pressures as also failures in US policies. Trump has repeatedly been stating that he would prefer peaceful resolution but in the midst of the talks, he ordered air strikes.
On bringing about a ceasefire in Operation Sindoor, Trump’s claims of aircraft downed in the conflict have been increasing every time he speaks. He started with seven aircraft and numbers have now reached double digits. Similarly, he commenced with saving 25 million people, subsequently increasing to 35 million.
Does Trump believe that Indian air strikes which damaged military and terrorist targets including a few posts are enough of an excuse for a war going nuclear? There were no civilian casualties or collateral damage. If he believes this, then his intelligence levels are way below par or possibly is hinting that the next time Pak must threaten nuclear strikes inviting global interjection and bringing Kashmir into international limelight.
On the contrary he refused to intervene in the Pak-Afghanistan war claiming he supports Pakistan. Evidently, Pakistan is attempting regime change in Afghanistan on the directions of the US aiming to hand over the Bagram airbase to the US.
Trump also behaved like a spoiled child after being ticked off by his own supreme court on tariffs. Apart from insulting the judges for questioning his actions, he imposed a 10% across the world tariff which he has subsequently announced could be increased to 15%. All this using the same statute in US law, that his own legal team had dismissed as irrelevant a few months ago.
He believes that as President he has absolute authority on anything and everything and can challenge the world. He refuses to be questioned on any of his demands. Europe rejecting his annexation of Greenland were threatened with additional tariffs, which he later withdrew. He still has been unable to convince nations on the necessity for Greenland.
He had on 01 Apr last year agreed with UK on handing back Chagos Islands to Mauritius, less Diego Garcia. He had announced that this was the best deal. He has now backtracked because UK refused to allow Washington to use its bases to target Iran. He commented that on Chagos that UK was ‘making a big mistake’ despite deal enabling continued use of Diego Garcia.
Trump announced his Board of Peace (BoP) with great fanfare expecting the world, which he had threatened with tariffs, to bow to him. The BoP, which he would head as an individual, not as per appointment, would have given him immense power as he envisaged it having a greater role than the UN. However, its first meeting was in itself a damp squid. Not a single nation which mattered joined.
The BoP lacks resources as also the ability to influence any global conflict zone, let alone Gaza. While he has maintained silence, there is no doubt he is hurting within. Trump hates failures and cannot accept the fact that nations rejected his invitation. The blowback will come in some form soon.
In addition, Trump threatened increased tariffs on Canada solely because he disliked a TV commercial quoting Ronald Regan verbatim. He withdrew his invitation for the BoP from Mark Carney because of his speech criticizing the US at Davos. He threatened additional tariffs on Switzerland because he disliked the tone of Switzerland’s president in a tele-conversation. His maximum tariffs on Brazil are because they jailed his ally, the former president Jair Bolsonaro.
A person as unreliable and media spotlight crazy as Trump is like a bull in a China shop. He can either be mollycoddled or ignored. Pakistan is possibly the only nation which has adopted the policy of mollycoddling him. Its PM Shehbaz Sharief leaves no opportunity to praise Trump including mentioning at the BoP meeting, ‘You have truly proved to be a man of peace Mr President and let me say, you are truly the saviour of South Asia.’
The opposite approach is ignoring Trump’s ranting and is adopted by India and most others. They do not comment on Trump’s statements aware that whatever they mention would be twisted by him to remain in the limelight. Many leaders, who initially flocked to Washington, including PM Modi, have begun staying away from events where Trump would be present. The intent is to avoid being dragged into controversies. Even at the World Economic Forum in Davos, most world leaders spoke and departed before Trump arrived and made a splash by inking the charter of the BoP.
The world will have to bear his theatrics and illogical statements for as long as he remains in office. There will be announcements followed by counter announcements as also exaggerated claims which everyone knows are post truth.
About the Author
Maj Gen Harsha Kakkar
Retired Major General Indian Army