OPINION:
President Trump’s demand to Iran is clear: No nuclear weapons!
Also clear is that few Americans care.
In the 1950s, frightened schoolchildren hid under their desks during air raid drills. That distant memory recalls a time when the threat of an atomic bomb or thermonuclear war dominated conversation.
Today, Tehran is betting on an American public desensitized to these threats. It is, for now, a winning bet.
The Iran war has reached public disapproval levels rivaling those of the Iraq and Vietnam war eras. When voters were recently asked about the most important issues facing the country, leadership and corruption ranked fourth. The Iran threat was fifth.
The disconnect is not surprising. Without a deep emotional fear of Iran, there are no demands to spend billions of dollars on checkmating the enemy.
As a nation, we care more about another 50 cents a gallon than massive economic shocks or nuclear winter.
The blame for that complacency lands at Mr. Trump’s feet. White House officials have yet to craft the message that describes how a nuclear-armed Iran could make a huge difference in our lives. Mr. Trump has yet to persuade a majority to support military action because going into detail is not his style.
Instead, he defaults to bravado about how he has all the cards, that, if necessary, he can wipe Iran off the face of the earth.
Public assurance that we can destroy Iranian civilization on a moment’s notice ensures that people will be focused elsewhere.
Before the Operation Midnight Hammer attack on Iran in June 2025, Mr. Trump warned that Iran was only two weeks away from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Still, the threat fell flat. Without solid details, it was a sound bite without teeth.
Despite Mr. Trump’s post-bombing claim of “obliterating” Iran’s nuclear program, it is presumed Iran may still have hidden significant amounts of uranium enriched at a 60% level. It could reach a 90% weapon-grade level in a matter of days or weeks. It may have enough for several nuclear bombs.
Yet even with only one nuclear bomb, Iran is scary. The regime leaders are not rational actors. Earlier this month, Iran attacked the United Arab Emirates, threatening it would “crush the UAE” in reaching regional supremacy. This was the same leadership in Tehran that killed more than 30,000 Iranian civilians in two days.
Iran’s mullahs are clearly comfortable devaluing human life in pursuit of domination.
What the president must employ now is his signature style, in which he repeats key messages relentlessly. He should couple the reality of a messianic, apocalyptic regime’s threat to its neighbors with a new weapon. In April, a single Iranian attack cut Saudi oil production by 700,000 barrels a day, or tens of millions of gallons of gasoline. A tactical nuclear attack on one oil-producing neighbor could drive prices past $200 or $300 a barrel, triggering a global depression.
What percentage of the American public has heard of that possibility?
The only way Mr. Trump gets a political free hand without worrying about midterm elections is to get a frightened and educated public behind him. There is more to economics than gas prices. The Strait of Hormuz could become a radioactive “no-go” zone for commercial shipping, cutting off energy supplies to Europe and Asia for months.
Food prices would skyrocket along the way, leading to shortages such as the fuel rationing that some are old enough to remember.
Faced with supply chain disruptions, food and gas prices going haywire, higher interest rates, housing values collapsing, investments underwater and other economic shocks, would we be forced to threaten with nukes of our own? What happens then? It puts pain at the pump into perspective.
Mr. Trump wants the country to back his decisions. Fair enough, but polling shows his messaging is not working. There is no palpable sense of urgency — only a false sense of security.
Mullahs, wed to a religion of hate, coupled with a perverse death wish and a weapon of mass destruction, are not to be discounted or dismissed. Mr. Trump must continue to highlight that reality. Repetition works.
Americans need to see a bleak vision that could destroy their lives. Without a concerned country behind him, the president cannot guarantee that “Death to America” is only a slogan.
• Rick Berman is president of RBB Strategies.
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