When the history books are one day written, historians – regardless of whether they love or hate the free world – will regard the year of our Lord 2026 as just as momentous as 1789, 1914, 1939 and 1991, when the Soviet Union was officially dissolved.

On Wednesday, President Trump delivered an address to the American nation in which he set out the course of the war in Iran. He was able to report that one of the world’s most evil and dangerous regimes has had its teeth pulled. The deranged madmen in Tehran have little left with which they can attack and threaten the rest of the world. He indicated that the American–Israeli military operation will have achieved its objectives within a very short time. There will thus be no question of a “forever war”, as Trump’s opponents on both the left and the right accuse him of having embarked upon.

Trump made it clear that the Iranian leaders have only a few days to reach an agreement with the United States (implicitly: to do as the United States wishes). Otherwise, he will bomb Iran “back to the Stone Age” by destroying the country’s infrastructure and the oil production upon which Allah’s men live.

Many rightly ask what will happen once the military operation has been concluded, and the answer is that this must be left to the Iranian people. The war aims of the United States and Israel have not been to bring about regime change in Iran. Their objective has been to prevent the Iranian regime from threatening its neighbours and the rest of the world, and the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has just announced that he considers the Iranian threat to Israel to have been eliminated.

As regards the mullahs’ nuclear weapons programme, the United States is evidently considering several options. One of them is to deploy special forces to take control of the bearded men’s stockpile of enriched uranium. That would be a complicated and perilous operation. It is therefore likely that Trump will choose to bury the Iranian nuclear installations so deep underground by means of bombardment that Allah’s men will not be able to get their hands on them. Since the United States and Israel have full control of the airspace over Iran, they will be able to detect any Iranian attempt to remove the enriched uranium.

Looking at the future of the Iranian people, the problem with Trump’s strategy is that Iran’s Islamic rulers are evidently indifferent to the threat of the country’s destruction. Infrastructure may be smashed, the economy may be ruined, and the population may be forced to starve. But so long as Muhammad’s murderous bands can shoot people in the streets and rape women in the name of Allah, they will never acknowledge any defeat.

Trump is therefore unlikely to be able to avoid helping the large majority who want nothing to do with Muhammad’s bloodthirsty ideology.

2026 was also the year in which NATO disintegrated.

Since 1949, Europe has depended on American protection. Hundreds of thousands of American soldiers have been stationed in several European countries, and the United States still maintains a substantial military presence. It has been an ideal arrangement for European governments: the United States provided defence, and Europeans could spend their money on extensive welfare programmes while simultaneously berating the Americans.

But now the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, announces that the party is over. When the war in Iran is over, the American government will reassess its commitment to an ungrateful NATO that will not even allow the Americans to fly over their territory or permit American aircraft to land on American bases.

One must hope that the European “allies” enjoy the party while it lasts, for they may end up having to pay for their own security themselves.