President Trump has escalated from earlier veiled nuclear rhetoric, such as the 2017 “Fire and Fury” warning to North Korea, to explicit 2026 threats at the UN to “annihilate” Iran and end its civilization, language that past international bodies have treated as potentially criminal.

The bluster reflects frustration that Iran has not yielded to U.S. military pressure but has instead disrupted oil traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, used Houthi proxies against the Bab al-Mandeb, and struck vulnerable American bases with drones and missiles.

Some U.S. military voices quietly question rebuilding those exposed bases and favor shrinking the Persian Gulf footprint to reduce the risk of another Middle East quagmire while refocusing on China.

When President Trump gets frustrated with other countries—friendly or adversarial—he tends to threaten them, from Greenland and Canada to Nigeria and Venezuela, as well as every nation he has tried to intimidate with tariffs. Sometimes he follows through; other times he backs down, giving rise to the popular (if overstated) phrase “Trump Always Chickens Out,” or TACO.

Although he usually picks on countries much weaker than the United States, this is not unusual........

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