President Trump has been content to let Iran slowly suffocate under their collapsing economy. Iran just fired off missiles to prove that they will not go away quietly.

It is clear that Trump would definitely prefer to let Iran crumble internally, so long as they don’t attack us (or other countries) and don’t interfere with international shipping via the Strait of Hormuz. The economic pressure is definitely having an effect, as the currency is crashing, inflation is rising, and jobs are disappearing. The blockade remains in place, and Iran cannot get its oil out of the harbor. And to put the cherry on top of the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, CENTCOM announced just days ago that the strait was now clear of any mines that Iran may have planted.

This announcement was a signal to the rest of the world that the United States had control of the situation, and – more importantly – that Iran did not. Obviously, this did not sit well with the Iranian regime, and neither does their shunning by other countries in the Middle East, like the UAE, who has cut off trade with Iran. A letter from the missing Mojtaba Khamenei, the Supreme Leader in name only who may or may not have written this letter, called for unity among Muslim nations, in hopes of consolidating some support in their fight against the United States and Israel, without mentioning either by name.

The ⁠message was published on Khamenei’s Telegram account for Islamic Unity Week, which marks the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad.

It called for Muslim unity, cooperation in various fields and mutual defense, saying anyone who ⁠creates divisions among Muslims, “knowingly or unknowingly,” ​helps ⁠Islam’s enemies.

It asked whether Palestinians would have been left “so helpless” if Muslims had been united.

His call for unity echoes a statement he made ‌on Friday to Iranians, when he said ‌he had banned actions that harm social cohesion and urged authorities to avoid “discouraging statements” that weaken national and public morale.

Khamenei specifically asked Gulf Arab rulers ⁠whether “rogues without identity” would have dared to covet their lands and possessions if the peoples and governments of the Gulf had been “united under the flag of Islam.”

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Gulf Arab monarchies have viewed Iran’s revolutionary ideology, including its anti-monarchic rhetoric and regional influence, as a threat to their ‌political systems.

During the present conflict, Tehran has struck ​U.S. military facilities as well as other infrastructure in ‌Gulf states, underscoring the tensions ⁠between Tehran and its Gulf neighbors.

“My emphatic and repeated recommendation ⁠to the rulers of Islamic countries, especially the countries of West Asia ‌and the Gulf, is ​to identify your real enemy, ‌understand his plan and confront it,” ​Khamenei said.

Let’s just say that none of the Islamic countries are exactly jumping to join in with Iran at the moment. Which is probably why Iran cooked up a new way to mine the Strait of Hormuz again. So the United States decided to take out some missile launchers in a pre-emptive strike on Sunday.

The US fired the attack after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were allegedly setting up another wave of underwater mines in the Strait of Hormuz, Axios reported.

“Earlier today U.S. forces struck two Iranian launchers on Larak Island,” a US official told the outlet. “Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces were observed preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into Strait of Hormuz.“

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed the attack that reportedly killed and wounded several people, but did not provide further details.

The attack “will be answered by the sons of Iran and will result in the punishment of the aggressor,” the IRGC told state broadcasters.

And it didn’t take long for Iran to attempt to strike back at American targets.

NOW: Iran is attacking U.S. forces stationed in Jordan.

U.S. source familiar to Fox News: 

No significant impacts so far. Nearly all incoming missiles have been intercepted at this point.

— Trey Yingst (@TreyYingst) August 30, 2026

Will things calm down again, now that Iran has shot off missiles? It’s an open question. But during an interview with Trey Gowdy that aired Sunday night, President Trump was adamant that Iran could not be allowed to get a nuclear weapon, because we all know what they would do with it.

.@POTUS: "Iran is the number one leading state sponsor of terror… They cannot have a nuclear weapon." pic.twitter.com/XmfAxTcFvT

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 31, 2026

President Donald Trump said Sunday that Iran would have used a nuclear weapon if it had one, warning that Israel and much of the Middle East could have been destroyed, with the United States or Europe possibly “next.”

“If they would have had a nuclear weapon, they would have fired it,” Trump said on “Sunday Night in America.”

“These are very violent, evil people.”

“So I think the Middle East would have essentially been gone, but Israel definitely would have been gone,” he added.

“I guess we would be next, or Europe, or someplace. But no, you cannot let them have a nuclear weapon, and they won’t have a nuclear weapon,” he added.

Trump also praised the success of the blockade of Iranian ports and Washington’s financial pressure campaign, saying Iran had become “a failing nation.”

And it seems that the reason that Trump has been content to let things lie until now is because the blockade has been so successful.

“The blockade has been unbelievable,” he said. “The financial hits that we’re giving them” have contributed to Iran’s decline.

“Their navy’s gone. Their air force is gone. Their leaders are gone. All of their anti-aircraft — I mean, it’s all wiped out. They’re tough people,” Trump said.

The president also said he was surprised when Tehran began targeting Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait at the start of the war, but argued the attacks eroded Iran’s regional support.

“Everybody was shocked. I was surprised,” Trump said. “I thought it was a real good thing because they lost all the support that they had.”

This is still not an ideal situation. It would be better if the president simply took the air out of the room and finished off Kharg Island, making the economic collapse inevitable and nearly immediate. It would spare the Iranian people a whole lot of unnecessary suffering, and wrap the entire war up before the midterms. If everyone, including Trump, is tired of this war, then why let it drag out? Still, it seems the end result will be the same either way – Iran will not get a nuke, their ability to pay proxies to commit terror acts will be pretty much nonexistent, and the Strait of Hormuz will start seeing more commercial traffic. As far as regime change within the country itself, it looks like President Trump is leaving that part up to the Iranian people.

Featured image: official White House photo by Daniel Torok from June 21, 2025, cropped, public domain