By Thierry Meyssan
Voltairenet.org
May 1, 2026
Events are unfolding badly. Just as President Trump launches his Kuturkampf against the Catholic Church to reaffirm the Anglo-Saxon, rather than Aztec, character of his country, he suffers a major setback with Iran. He has to acknowledge that his approach to business dealings cannot replace diplomacy, at least not with this particular partner. And that his Jacksonian ideology, which works wonders on domestic issues, is incapable of addressing strategic problems. Aware of the impasse he finds himself in, Donald Trump adapts. He changes completely.
This article is a follow-up to: " The Schism Between the Pentagon and the Vatican", April 21, 2026.
On June 21 and 22, 2025, President Donald Trump ordered the bombing of Iranian nuclear sites (Operation "Midnight Hammer"). Officially, the objective was to destroy any capability to produce an atomic bomb. Unofficially, this operation was primarily aimed at depriving Israel of an excuse to use an atomic bomb against Iran, as several politicians had suggested.
In any case, the Pentagon noted that the Iranian installations were so deeply buried that they were inaccessible. Moreover, one hesitates to imagine the potential consequences of these bombings had they reached their targets.
This operation prompted Washington to question its ability to overthrow the Khomeini regime and, above all, its overall strategy. During the formation of his government, Donald Trump agreed to have his vice president, JD Vance, appoint one of his friends, Elbridge Colby, as Under Secretary of War. This strategist had already served in Trump's first term. He had outlined his "denial theory" to him: to ensure that the United States remained the world's leading power and that China did not overtake it, it was necessary not to fight China militarily, but to deprive it of the energy and raw materials necessary for its development [1].
Elbridge Colby is the only figure from the Obama-Biden era who found a place alongside Donald Trump. He was indeed influential in Democratic policy towards Iran and worked for WestExec Advisors, Antony Blinken's company.
From Operation Midnight Hammer onward, Donald Trump's rhetoric began to shift. Until then, his primary concern had been saving the dollar from its abysmal national debt. He had sought financial support from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia and made numerous sweeping statements, assuring everyone that he had no cash flow problems. He had successively announced colossal investments for a "golden dome" and a "golden fleet." All of this was merely smoke and mirrors, as the Gulf states had already exhausted their reserves and the arms projects had not even begun to materialize.
Colby approached John Ratcliffe, the CIA director, to devise ways to deprive China of its overseas resources. He was himself the grandson of William Colby, Richard Nixon's CIA director. It was he who installed the dictatorships in Latin America with his old friend, the French general Paul Ausaresses [2].
In September-October 2025, Colby and Ratcliffe send agents to meet, in Qatar, Delcy Rodríguez, Vice President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and Yussef Abou Nassif Smaili, her lover. The aim is to test the waters and see how the young woman could help to put an end to Nicolás Maduro's authoritarian drift [3].
When the possibility of the vice president pacifying the situation in Caracas was confirmed, the operation was prepared by SouthCom, while the CIA took charge of creating the impression that its goal was to stop drug trafficking. Its true objective was masked by the destruction of a few boats carrying drugs. In reality, it was about ensuring that Venezuelan oil would no longer reach China (the "denial strategy"). The whole world was fooled, the left mistakenly believing that capitalists wanted to seize Venezuelan oil ("Operation Absolute Determination," January 3, 2026).
Colby and Ratcliffe were already planning their next operation. This time, the goal was to deprive China of Iranian oil, which accounted for 40% of its energy imports. The two men activated their contacts in Tel Aviv, suggesting to Benjamin Netanyahu that he would be given free rein if he attacked Iran. Indeed, Netanyahu immediately proposed to the United States that they orchestrate regime change in Tehran.
Colby and Ratcliffe are both convinced that regime change is unlikely and that Iran is not developing a nuclear bomb. Their sole objective is to strangle China. President Trump is convinced that NATO allies will once again help the United States orchestrate regime change. He gets France to train Kurdish snipers in Iraq to fire on demonstrators and police officers, thus provoking the chaos that will precede "the fall of the ayatollahs." Meanwhile, Scott Besent, the Treasury Secretary, orchestrates the bankruptcy of Ayandeh Bank [4], which holds the savings of the bazaar merchants.
On October 23, 2025, Ayandeh Bank collapsed. Depositors began to protest. They were ruined. Some of them were wealthy merchants. Society was in turmoil, but no one challenged the regime. In January 2026, Kurdish snipers began assassinating protesters and police officers. Everyone believed the opposing side was solely responsible, when in fact, third parties, unseen and unseen, were behind the killings.
Donald Trump assures everyone that he will not let the Revolutionary Guards massacre their own people. The West, convinced that non-Westerners are uncivilized, supports the "defense of democracy." The trick is done. Israel, which does not respect non-Jewish religious leaders, assassinates the Supreme Leader. The United States immediately follows suit.
What followed was unforeseen: Iran, which had been preparing for 48 years to liberate itself from colonial powers and then from the rest of the world, was well protected. The Israeli-American bombings succeeded in decapitating the country, which instantly regrew like a hydra. Yet, this was hardly surprising: in 1981, the People's Mujahedin had managed to assassinate 70 leaders in one fell swoop, including Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini Beheshti, then the country's number two, and about ten ministers. Within two days, they had all been replaced.
Worse still, Iran, which had anticipated the attack and prepared its response well in advance, fired on US military bases in the region. Within hours, it ended Western air superiority by destroying the US super-radar that monitored the entire Middle East [5]. Then, it destroyed radar aircraft sent to compensate for the absence of the ground-based super-radar. The Pentagon took some time to realize that Iran possessed a satellite that allowed it to see the entire region [6]. Not only were the United States blind, but Iran saw everything in detail. The response was so spectacular that Iranian public opinion rallied against the aggressor. An entire generation asked to join the Basij and the Pasdaran, that is, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The State Department is no more effective than the War Department: Iran is dusting off a UN General Assembly resolution, adopted unanimously without a vote, which claims that international law supports its actions [7]. Tehran emphasizes that the Security Council resolution condemning its retaliation against the Gulf States violates international law. The Gulf States are at their wits' end. They persist in denouncing the Iranian attacks, but must resign themselves to admitting that they have made a grave mistake: by hosting US military bases, they thought they would be militarily protected. They are discovering that, in reality, they have bowed down to a power that has dragged them into a war that is not their own.
Consequently, NATO allies, realizing there will be no military solution, are no longer responding to calls from the White House, even if they had participated in planning the massacres during the protests. Meanwhile, China is redirecting its missiles, no longer against Taiwan, but against US military bases in the Indo-Pacific [8]. The entire world is adapting to the US paralysis.
As if one misfortune wasn't enough, Iranian embassies released computer-generated videos that caricatured Donald Trump's exhortations. The humor turned global public opinion against the aggressor.
When one makes a mistake and refuses to admit it, the temptation is always to do more. Since the initial bombings yielded no results, President Trump decided to intensify them until the Iranians capitulated [9]. He even went so far as to blockade the Strait of Hormuz. However, ammunition stocks were beginning to run low. The Pentagon had to requisition weapons it had intended for other theaters of operation.
Donald Trump acknowledges his failure when he resorts to escalation: if conventional bombing has been ineffective against "the regime," then he must try to defeat it by using an atomic bomb. Not a strategic bomb like those used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but a tactical one. General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, then opposes him. He declares that he is against it and will not, for his part, launch a nuclear attack [10]. Donald Trump has to backtrack in front of the press.
President Donald Trump can only acknowledge the failure of the United States. Analyzing it, he realizes that his approach, as a business leader, with his personal negotiating style and his Jacksonian ideology of replacing war with trade, prevents him from responding effectively. He must therefore change course. This is why he decides to bring back supporters of a more traditional ideology. As a gesture of appeasement, he renames a room in the White House annex, the Old Executive Building, the "Henry Clay Room" [11]. Henry Clay was Andrew Jackson's main adversary.
For three weeks, the MAGA (Make America Great Again) base of Donald Trump's supporters has been distancing itself from him. Many are openly discussing the possibility of declaring him unfit and replacing him with Vice President JD Vance. On April 25, 2026, at 8:30 p.m., a lone gunman bursts into the vicinity of the ballroom where the Trump administration was hosting press correspondents. He attempts to assassinate the President of the United States. The Secret Service (the agency responsible for protecting high-ranking officials) then evacuates the President, his family, and members of his administration. They do not intervene first to save Donald Trump, but rather his Vice President, JD Vance. The gunman is subdued. The message is clear.
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[1 ] The Strategy of Denial: American defense in an age of great power conflict, Elbridge Colby, Yale University Press (2021).
[2 ] " Galula, the French theorist who inspired General Petraeus ", Voltaire Network, August 30, 2010. Special Services, Algeria 1955-1957: My testimony on torture, Paul Aussaresses, Perrin Publishers (2001).
[3 ] Dispatch 4655 "Who is the interim president of Venezuela?", Voltaire, international news, No. 159, January 23, 2026.
[4 ] " Iran's Complaint Against US Secret Financial Operations, by Amir Saeid Iravani, Voltaire Network, January 22, 2026.
[5 ] Dispatch 4959: "Revolutionary Guards destroy AN/FPS-132 radar", Voltaire, International News, No. 165, March 6, 2026.
[6 ] " FirstFT: China shares satellite technology with Iran ", Financial Times, April 15, 2026.
[7 ] United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3314 (XXIX): " Definition of Aggression ", Voltaire Network, December 14, 1974.
[8 ] " How Iran's strikes on US bases could offer a preview for the Asia-Pacific ", Amber Wang, South China Morning Post, March 11, 2026.
[9 ] " Why Escalation Favors Iran. America and Israel May Have Bitten Off More Than They Can Chew ", Robert A. Pape, Foreign Affairs, March 9, 2026
[10 ] " @JaokooMoses ", X, April 25, 2026.
[11 ] " Day of celebration in honor of the life of Henry Clay ", 2026, White House, April 10, 2026.
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