Trump’s Coalition of One: How America and Israel Are Fighting Iran Alone

As the US-Israeli offensive against Iran enters its seventh day, the striking feature of the conflict is not just its intensity but its isolation. No major Western power has joined the campaign. No Arab state has offered military support. The United Nations has condemned the escalation. Britain has provided logistical support and additional fighters, but carefully avoided offensive operations. President Donald Trump and the Israeli government have essentially launched a war that the rest of the world is watching with growing alarm.
The military campaign itself has been formidable. American B-2 stealth bombers have struck Iran’s buried missile infrastructure with 2,000-pound penetrating munitions. Israeli jets have dismantled large sections of Hezbollah’s command structure in Lebanon. A major Iranian naval vessel has been struck and possibly sunk. The defense secretary has promised further escalation. The IDF chief has promised additional surprises. On pure military terms, the US-Israeli alliance has the overwhelming upper hand.
But the political landscape is far more complicated. Iran has retaliated against Gulf states whose governments quietly host American forces, creating domestic and diplomatic complications for leaders in Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain. The attack on a UN peacekeeping battalion in Lebanon has alienated European allies who contribute troops to the mission. The killing of more than 100 students in an airstrike on an Iranian girls’ school has provided Iran with powerful propaganda that resonates beyond its borders.
Trump has responded to allied concerns with characteristic directness, stating his intentions without apology. He demands Iran’s unconditional surrender. He wants regime change. He wants to help choose Iran’s next supreme leader. He has offered immunity to Iranians who rise up and promised destruction to those who resist. These messages play well domestically. They have complicated relations with every other government watching the conflict unfold.
The question that will define the conflict’s legacy is whether American and Israeli military power alone can achieve the stated objectives of regime change and unconditional surrender, without broader international support and against a country of 80 million people that has survived extraordinary pressure before. Trump is betting that it can. The rest of the world is not so sure.