Do you think Trump was right to bomb Iran? Do you think he should have waited for approval from Congress? Are you concerned about the threat of nuclear war? Here’s what readers told us.
It’s been more than a week since the United States entered the conflict between Iran and Israel on June 21, dropping more than a dozen 30,000-pound “bunker buster” bombs on Iranian nuclear facilities in Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. Iran retaliated on June 23 with an attack on a U.S. military base in Qatar.
The days that followed have brought with them a fragile ceasefire, first announced on Truth Social – and seemingly without the approval of Iran and Israel – by President Donald Trump. Since then, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and others in the Trump administration have been engaged in a back-and-forth about how much damage those bombs really did to Iran’s nuclear capabilities – and while the world is breathing a little easier than it was nine days ago, tensions in the Middle East remain high.
We wanted to know what you thought about all this. So, we asked. Do you think Trump was right to bomb Iran? Do you think he should have waited for approval from Congress? Are you concerned about the threat of nuclear war? Hundreds of readers wrote in for this installment of USA TODAY’s Opinion Forum, sharing their opinions from across the country and political spectrum. Here’s what they said.
Trump is immoral and unsuitable for office. But bombing Iran was right.
The air strikes were the right decision. Iran cannot be permitted to develop nuclear weapons. We should believe its leaders when they say “Death to America.” I should also mention that I normally vote Republican, but I’ve never voted for Donald Trump. I believe him to be an immoral, intemperate man unsuited for any public office.
Presidents have been ordering military actions without congressional authorization for some time. However, that doesn’t make it right. Still, as divided as Congress is, I don’t believe he would have gotten the green light and we very much needed to act.
Further retaliation by Iran is always a possibility. One has to know that once the act is completed, the other side may retaliate. Sometimes, however, the risk must be taken.
While the U.S. intelligence community said Iran was not close to developing a nuclear weapon, the intelligence community has been wrong before. Trump is going to do whatever he wants to do. He is a bit of a loose cannon.
— Kevin O’Grady, Columbus, Ohio
Trump said he’d think about it for 2 weeks, then bombs!
I do not think Trump made the right decision in bombing three Iranian nuclear sites. There was no emergency and no reason to do it. He said on June 19 he was going to consider it for two weeks and then, two days later, bombs! He has no idea what that little stunt costs – to deploy those types of weapons. He did it to show that he was powerful enough to do it. He has no idea what could result from it. He is an ignoramus!
I think the fact that he acted on his own, without authorization from Congress, is a good reason to impeach him. He has already walked all over Congress and the court systems, doing things he does not have the authority to do. He should be impeached.
In terms of him saying Iran was close to developing a nuclear weapon, the U.S. intelligence community said otherwise. I think Trump is dumb and has no idea what the truth is.
I am slightly concerned about Iran’s nuclear capabilities or the possibility of them receiving nuclear weapons from an ally. And I am slightly concerned about the threat of nuclear war.
— Diane Whitlock, Waynesville, North Carolina
Iran strikes are better than kumbaya attitudes in Congress
I absolutely think Trump made the right decision in bombing the Iranian nuclear sites. Iran and many other bad state actors, and their proxies, represent existential threats to the U.S. Bad behavior must not be tolerated. We are neither empire building, nor are we regime changing in our defensive actions.
I’m not in the least concerned about Trump ordering the strikes without congressional authorization. He was elected by a majority of American voters to stop the passive, kumbaya attitudes prevailing in the White House and Congress. Congress needs term limits, because the polarization is cause and effect of lobbyists being catalysts for wealth and power acquisition through longer seniority.
As for the intelligence community’s different assessment than Trump about how close Iran was to developing a nuclear weapon, who cares? When your public posture and oft-stated goals are the destruction of America, the degree of “close to having” is a euphemism for panty waists to wring their hands and experience angst until it’s not close, but NOW.
— Robert Jarrard, Shrewsbury, Massachusetts
Israel goaded Trump into military action
This administration is the least equipped to make complex foreign policy decisions than any other one in this history of the U.S. At least in the first Trump administration there were some competent Cabinet officers and advisers, but now there is nobody to stop him from his worst impulses. Israel very effectively goaded Trump into this war action and it helped Trump domestically, at least in the short run, by taking attention away from his low approval ratings, the unlawful immigration raids, the protests and the lack of any tariff deals.
It concerns me that Trump did not get congressional approval before the strikes. There was no urgency or exigency to having to make this decision. Even though the GOP Congress might well have rubber-stamped his decision, Trump is taking every avenue to consolidate his executive power, and Congress is aiding and abetting this by not asserting its constitutional rights.
Iran has already performatively fired missiles at U.S. military installations in Qatar, with pre-warning. The supreme leader of Iran has to save face, and this might well be enough for him. I am more concerned that Trump is a loose cannon, and if he feels that his power is slipping he will escalate this to try to get a “rally round the flag” approval bump. In short, I simply do not trust him to act in the best interest of anyone but himself, certainly not in the interest of the American people.
Israel has a vested interest in making it seem like a nuclear weapon is imminent. I believe the U.S. intelligence community on this. Trump notoriously refuses to hear briefings or pay any attention to actual facts, but instead relies on “his instincts,” which are basically messages from Fox News.
— Patricia Gotschalk, Wailuku, Hawaii
Limits on bombing helped make it acceptable
I do think President Trump made the right decision in bombing the three Iranian nuclear sites. It seems like it was limited in scope to only neutralizing the nuclear threats.
And I’m not concerned about him acting on his own presidential authority, without authorization from Congress. There’s a long history of presidents launching attacks like this one.
As for additional retaliation by Iran, I’m not concerned because it’s too far away and it’s not a military power.
With Trump’s disagreement with the the U.S. intelligence community about whether Iran was close to developing a nuclear weapon, I think its nuclear program exceeds civilian use. Why have it secluded in the mountains unless it’s to weaponize it?
And while I’m slightly concerned about Iran’s nuclear capabilities and the possibility it could receive nuclear weapons from an ally, I’m not at all concerned about the threat of nuclear war.
— Scott Forrester, Phoenix, Arizona
