President Donald Trump has set the terms for Iran to end the military conflict over its nuclear program: “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER.” Asked what this post on Truth Social meant, Trump replied, “That means I’ve had it. … Then we go blow up all the nuclear stuff.”

Trump’s message is clear: Either Iran cries “amu!” (uncle) and lets the United States dismantle its nuclear facilities, or Trump sends B-2 bombers to do the job from the skies above.

It would be entirely appropriate for Trump to deliver the coup de grâce that ends Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Four U.S. presidents have declared that Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon, but only Trump set an actual deadline for the program’s destruction — giving the regime 60 days to give up nuclear enrichment. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, foolishly let that deadline pass, and on Day 61, Israel’s bombing began.

Even then, Trump continued to offer Tehran a peaceful way out. But Iran still refuses his outstretched hand. Iranian leaders clearly believe that Israel does not have the capacity to completely destroy their nuclear program — and that if the United States does not join the air campaign, they can ride out the Israeli onslaught, reconstitute their program and resume their race to a bomb.

That danger is real. If Iran’s deeply buried Fordow fuel enrichment plant is not destroyed by the end of this campaign, Iran could still have the capacity to produce nine nuclear bombs in a matter of weeks, according to weapons expert David Albright. It would have every incentive to do so to prevent another Israeli attack.

Bunker-busters

Without U.S. help, Israel could damage, if not destroy, Fordow. It could take out the facility’s electricity source (as the Israelis have in the less deeply buried Natanz nuclear enrichment facility), which would produce an uncontrolled shutdown that might cause some of its centrifuges to crash and self-destruct. Israel could destroy the Fordow ventilation system, which would make it difficult to work so far below ground. The entrances could be targeted to make the facility temporarily inaccessible. Or Israel could launch a dangerous commando raid, sending special operators to try to enter and destroy the facility — a highly risky option.

But the only way to permanently disable Fordow is with 30,000-pound GBU-57 A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs. “The U.S. could drop a couple of bunker-busters, and the ceiling and the main halls would collapse, and it’s the end of the story,” Albright told the Tablet magazine. “Iran could never rebuild it. The rock would be too unstable. They’d have to go someplace else and start anew.”

Israel does not have these weapons or the strategic bombers to deliver them. Only the United States possesses such capabilities. Israel has cleared the way for the United States to use them. It has largely disabled Iran’s air defenses and now controls the Persian skies. But it is up to Trump to give the order to finish the job.

This much is certain: This operation cannot end with any known elements of the Iranian nuclear program intact. To do so — particularly absent U.S. military action — would send a message of weakness to both allies and adversaries across the world. By contrast, a U.S. strike would send a message of strength that would resonate from Moscow to Beijing and Pyongyang.

Cementing a legacy

Warnings from the isolationist right that Trump is getting the U.S. involved in another Middle Eastern war are ignorant and overblown. No one is talking about sending 160,000 U.S. troops to occupy Iran like the U.S. did in Iraq.

Eliminating Iran’s nuclear facilities is more akin to Trump’s decision to eliminate Iran’s terrorist mastermind Qasem Soleimani in 2020.

Indeed, the risk of Iranian retaliation is lower today than it was after the Soleimani strike. Over the past two years, Israel has systematically dismantled Iran’s network of terrorist proxies across the region. Iran has also lost its Syrian ally, which means the weapons highway from Iran, through Syria, to Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank has been shut down, while Syria’s skies are now being used by Israel and allies to shoot down Iranian missiles. And Iran’s ability to fire ballistic missiles is dwindling by the day, as Israel systemically takes out its missile launchers. Iran has never been weaker.

Moreover, Iran’s leaders know that if Tehran did retaliate against the United States, Trump would decapitate the regime. After the Soleimani strike, Trump sent a message to Iran that if it killed a single American in response, he would kill Khamenei. This week, Trump publicly repeated that threat. “We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” Trump declared on Truth Social. “He is an easy target, but is safe there — We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now.”

None of this is to underestimate the complexity of the challenge. The Iranian nuclear program is dispersed and compartmentalized, designed to survive an Israeli-U.S. effort to destroy it. But the die is cast, and we can and must finish what we started.

Like his predecessors, Trump has repeatedly declared that “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.” Striking Fordow would cement his legacy as the only president who had the will and fortitude to act on that promise.

Israel started this operation, but only Trump can finish it.

Marc Thiessen is Washington Post columnist and fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.