It took only a minute to change the world. Within the first 60 seconds of Operation Epic Fury, Israeli officials claimed, Iran’s Supreme Leader and his principal henchmen were dead.
But the precision-guided missiles that struck central Tehran in the opening salvo of the war did not merely kill Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and upend half a century of Iranian history.
They also underscored a more basic reality – where true power still lies in the world.
Much has been written in recent years about “multi-polarity” – the idea that emerging powers have wrested back some of the dominance the United States wielded unilaterally after the Cold War.
Such arguments are not without merit. China’s manufacturing heft and its dominance over critical resource supply lines challenge Washington’s economic primacy. Rising middle powers have ensured that the US no longer enjoys uncontested sway in every region.
But when it comes to military might, the US still reigns supreme – a point Donald Trump has sought to emphasise repeatedly since returning to office.
Whether or not he is America’s greatest president, as he sometimes suggests, Mr Trump is certainly among its most consequential.
Few predecessors have wielded hard power so bluntly. In the space of two months, he has removed two leaders on two continents: Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela and Khamenei in Iran.
Unlike Theodore Roosevelt, Mr Trump speaks loudly and wields the big stick without compunction.
For nearly two decades, China and Russia have sought to build a global coalition to counter US hegemony. With Mr Trump taking a sledgehammer to those ambitions, Moscow and Beijing have been reduced to spluttering helplessly from the sidelines as their regional clients are swatted aside.
After Khamenei’s death, Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader, offered his “deep condolences”, condemned a “cynical murder that violated all norms of human morality and international law” and mourned the passing of “an outstanding statesman”.
The subtext will not be lost on the coterie of strongmen who depend on Moscow’s patronage – when the missiles fall, Russia can offer little more than sympathy.
For now, Mr Trump can savour his triumph, having wrong-footed his critics and confounded received wisdom.
For while the killing of Khamenei is hardly the end of the affair – the Middle East has a record of turning Western triumph to ashes – the opening stages of this war have already achieved what many thought impossible.
About the Author
