Even since a cease-fire was announced between the U.S. and Iran, anti-Trump extremists have been accusing President Trump of “war crimes” for his original attack. This is nonsense.
Trump reasonably and understandably believed Iran was close to developing a nuclear arsenal, which the mullahs might have deployed against Israel in the near term, and perhaps eventually against the U.S.
Regardless of whether the potential timing of this threat fits the traditional definition of “imminent” — which is to say, right on the verge of happening — it was real and would have been catastrophic if carried out.
Accordingly, both the U.S. and Israel had the right — indeed, the obligation — to regard the threat that Iran would soon develop and deploy a nuclear arsenal as sufficiently dangerous to warrant preventive military action. Had either country waited until this nuclear threat was truly imminent, it might have been too late to stop it.
