The President of Peace at it again: Donald Trump threatens Iran with military intervention
Nothing says “President of Peace” quite like a 3 am Truth Social post threatening military intervention in a Middle Eastern nation yet again, but that’s apparently how Donald Trump wishes to ring in 2026.
Despite crowning himself the champion of peace at every available opportunity, Trump just can’t seem to retire his warmonger shtick. Fresh off bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities last June—a move that resulted in Tehran dropping ballistic missiles on the U.S. military base in Qatar—the president has decided his first order of business in 2026 is to keep the chaos train barreling forward, with a generous helping of whatever Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is currently craving.
Right now, protests are sweeping through more than 30 Iranian cities, initially sparked by the country’s currency hitting historic lows against the U.S. dollar and an economic death spiral that shows no signs of slowing. According to CNBC, annual inflation sits at a whopping 42.2%, with food prices almost doubling. Demonstrations have since evolved from economic grievances into broader anti-government unrest, and at least seven people have been killed so far.
And what’s President Trump’s response amidst this new maelstrom of human suffering, you ask? Why, he’s offering thoughts and prayers. Just kidding—he’s threatening to invade at 3 AM, firing off typo-laden threats and promising to go “locked and loaded” on a country he bombed just seven months ago.
“If Iran shots [sic] and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social page Friday morning. “We are locked and loaded and ready to go.”
Iran’s response to Trump’s saber-rattling was predictably fiery. National security chief Ali Larijani wasted no time firing back with a tweet of his own, which landed somewhere between warning and threat. “The American people should know—Trump started this adventurism. They should be mindful of their soldiers’ safety.” Parliament Speaker and former IRGC commander Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf declared that “all American centers and forces across the entire region will be legitimate targets” if Washington intervenes, per NBC News.
Well, thank you, Mr. President. Nothing like painting a bullseye on every U.S. service member in the Middle East to start the new year off right. All done from the comfort of the Mar-a-Lago couch, no less, some 7000 miles away.
It turns out the President of Peace translates roughly to “guy who pours gasoline on fires.” As protests barrel into day 7 in Iran, everyone in the region is wondering whether this is just another round of chest-thumping or the prelude to something far worse.
(featured image: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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