Kurt Davis
As Israel escalates its confrontation with Iran, Donald Trump faces a defining foreign policy test. The choice before him is not between diplomacy and war. Diplomacy has largely been exhausted; war, in some form, is already underway.
The real question is more consequential and more concrete: should the United States supply Israel with its most formidable non-nuclear weapon, the 30,000-pound bunker buster, which only America has the air power capability to deliver?
These Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOPs) are designed for a singular purpose: to destroy deeply fortified targets, such as Iran’s hardened nuclear facilities. Fordow, Iran’s mountain-buried enrichment facility, was built to survive conventional airstrikes.
For years, US policy rested on a mix of sanctions and diplomacy, backed by the unspoken threat of these weapons. That deterrent is now being tested.
Israel, having demonstrated its military capabilities in Gaza and against Hezbollah, is now striking Iranian nuclear scientists and sites and senior military commanders. There is growing confidence in Jerusalem that it can push further, potentially taking out Iran’s political leadership.
Trump himself recently claimed to have vetoed an Israeli request to target Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. From Israel’s perspective, Iran is advancing too close to nuclear breakout, and the margin for delay is vanishing. Yet Israel still lacks the means to destroy Iran’s most hardened assets. Only the US can fill that gap—and must now decide whether to do so.
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