Commentary by K.E. Bell
By now I’m sure you’ve seen the clip. In 2001’s movie Shrek, Lord Farquaad, played by legendary actor John Lithgow, tells the knights of a tournament: “Some of you may die, but it's a sacrifice I am willing to make.”
That quote sums up President Donald Trump’s modus operandi perfectly.
The US, the UK, France, China, Russia, Germany, and Iran signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) in 2015, halting Iran’s ability to produce a nuclear weapon by limiting the country’s ability to enrich uranium. The deal included inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, and relaxed sanctions imposed on Iran due to its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Iran complied with the agreement.
But then, unable to concede a foreign policy win for former President Barrak Obama, Trump withdrew the US from the deal in 2018. Iran went back to enriching uranium in 2019.
Then, early Saturday, the US and Israel struck Iran in an act of war.
Trump broke diplomacy and now he intends to fix it with war.
How many will die because of Trump’s unending ego?
So far quite a few, including more than 100 young girls buried in a strike on a school. As of March 1, three American soldiers have died as well. Many more are likely to die on both sides.
One of the casualties was the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, an extremist Shia Muslim cleric whose government has killed what is estimated by some at more than 35,000 citizen protesters since December 28, 2025. The Ayatollah was a horrible man running a horrible government. I’m not sad to see him go.
However, it’s not supposed to be up to Trump to decide to go to war. It’s up to Congress as stated in the War Powers Resolution of 1973, but Congress wasn’t consulted. The equally corrupt Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu obviously was.
Once again Trump has broken the law. That has spurred Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) to introduce a House resolution calling for a war powers vote on the Iran strikes. Essentially, it’s a vote to apply a law that already applies.
The US has mettled in Iranian politics since the US and the UK backed a coup d’etat that consolidated power with Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1953. Not surprisingly, the move was to protect oil interests, this time more for the UK than the US. The Shah was overthrown in the Islamic Revolution of 1979 that put Khamenei’s predecessor, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in power until his death in 1989.
In a video posted after the attacks, Trump said: “Finally, to the great proud people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand. Stay sheltered. Don't leave your home. It's very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere. When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations.”
It appears that the US has no succession plan to promote or install a more egalitarian government, and reports say Iran’s opposition movement has no succession plan, either. As of now, theocratic hardliners are still in charge of Iran and they intend to avenge Khamenei’s death.
Given the lack of a plan on both sides, we could be looking at an extended stay in Iran. The last time we waged war in the greater Middle East we were there for almost 20 years at the cost of trillions of dollars, more than 7,000 American lives, and hundreds of thousands of Afghani and Iraqi lives.
This attack on Iran could have been avoided with diplomacy. Now one man’s ego will claim innumerable lives.
Bell is contributing pundit for The Hustings.