NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
One of President Donald Trump's most outspoken critics in the legacy media is praising his administration's strike on Iran.
Washington Post columnist George Will penned a piece on Sunday titled, "At last, the credibility of U.S. deterrence is being restored."
"The perhaps 30,000 protesters who perished in Iran’s streets in early January did not die in vain," Will wrote.
President Donald Trump gestures as he boards Air Force One before departing Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, on March 1, 2026, on his way back to Washington, D.C. (Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Images)
Will, a former Republican who voted for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the most recent presidential elections, marveled at how "Precision munitions, directed by spectacular intelligence, enabled a decapitation strategy" as the U.S. and Israel carried out Operation Epic Fury on Saturday, which resulted in the elimination of the Iranian regime's top leaders including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"The U.S. action for regime change in Iran is not sufficient to produce regional tranquility. It is, however, a necessity for beginning to reestablish a precondition for a more peaceable world: the credibility of U.S. deterrence," Will told readers.
Washington Post columnist George Will praised President Donald Trump for restoring the "credibility of U.S. deterrence" following the launch of Operation Epic Fury against Iran. (William B. Plowman/NBC/NBC Newswire/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)
The Post columnist lamented the credibility the U.S. lost on the world stage beginning in 1975, citing the last helicopter leaving the roof of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, later invoking President Barack Obama's "red line" that he drew for Syria regarding the use of chemical weapons which was later crossed in 2013, as well as President Biden's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
"Today, Vladimir Putin is watching Venezuela, Iran (a source of some of Putin’s drones) and soon, perhaps, Cuba, join Syria as vanished clients. The swiftness of their downfall illustrates the hollowness of Russia’s claim to be a formidable global actor," Will continued.
IRANIAN-AMERICAN JOURNALIST CALLS OUT MAMDANI OVER RESPONSE TO US-ISRAEL STRIKES
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed as part of the U.S. and Israel's Operation Epic Fury. (Sobhan Farajvan/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Will also dismissed critics who've labeled Trump's actions as a "war of choice," calling it a "too casually bandied phrase" that "rarely fits untidy reality" and how his administration "has chosen not to wager U.S. safety on Iran’s abandoning its multi-decade pursuit of nuclear weapons, or on Iran’s acquiring them but not really meaning 'Death to America.'"
"Nationalism, so often derided, was never captured by Iran’s regime. Instead, nationalism simmered against the state, which warred unceasingly against the nation. As America prepares to help, from a distance, Iran’s political rebirth, we should heed an American poet’s advice of bold thoroughness. Robert Frost: 'The best way out is always through,'" he concluded.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Related Article
Joseph A. Wulfsohn is a media reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @JosephWulfsohn.
