Yes, Donald Trump used the usual, Curtis LeMay-inspired "Stone Ages." Given the 7th-century nature of the Iranian regime and its view of law and punishment, "stoned" seems more appropriate.
It certainly described Trump's approach in his speech last night. After sending mixed signals about potential off-ramps to the Iran war, Trump told the nation in his address that he would follow through on his ultimatum to Iran's regime. Unless they agree to permanently open the Strait of Hormuz and end its various threats to the region, the US and Israel will systematically destroy Iran's entire industrial infrastructure over the next few weeks:
President Trump said in a prime-time address Wednesday that the U.S. will complete its military mission in Iran "very shortly," and that the U.S. will hit Iran "extremely hard" over the next two to three weeks. https://t.co/ZToUkhWpV6 pic.twitter.com/1KtsQf7S5M
— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 2, 2026
In a 20-minute address from the White House, his most direct sales pitch to the nation since the war began a month ago, Trump said the U.S. had succeeded on the battlefield and declared that U.S. military objectives would be completed “very shortly.”
“Never in the history of warfare has an enemy suffered such clear and devastating large-scale losses in a matter of weeks,” he said.
Trump said he still aims for a diplomatic agreement to end the war. But in the meantime, he vowed to hit Iran “extremely hard” in the coming weeks and pummel the country “back to the Stone Ages, where they belong.”
That's nearly a direct pull from General Curtis LeMay's warning to North Vietnam after his retirement in 1965. In fact, it appears that Trump and Pete Hegseth have fully adopted LeMay's preferred plan for that war, twenty years after LeMay succeeded in using it against Japan – with the help of two atomic bombs, of course:
My solution to the problem would be to tell [the North Vietnamese Communists] frankly that they've got to draw in their horns and stop their aggression or we're going to bomb them into the Stone Age. And we would shove them back into the Stone Age with Air power or Naval power—not with ground forces.
As mentioned above, this regime loooves a good stoning. Perhaps it's time to allow the mullahs and the IRGC to experience it for themselves, rather than meting out that punishment on defenseless women, along with their other medieval tortures.
The question becomes, though, whether LeMay's strategy will work, on what timeline, and what comes after. Unlike the flip remarks of many commenters, air power alone actually has resulted in regime change – in Japan 1945, where LeMay finally succeeded, and in Libya in 2011. It took months of bombing in both cases, with added naval warfare in 1945, not just a couple of weeks. We occupied Japan (and Germany) and conducted the kind of nation-building that we eschew now, mainly because it doesn't work in the Middle East and its tribal/medieval context. That allowed us to get a good result in Japan and Germany, but the decapitation strategy in Libya produced an utter disaster that touched off a mass wave of refugees into Europe, which has now rendered our allies there useless.
With Iran, the apocalyptic mullahs are already the worst possible outcome, which was not true with Moammar Qaddafi, who had cooperated with the US for nearly a decade prior to Barack Obama's war against his regime. The issue of timelines remains, though. We can keep destroying Iran's industrial capacity and plunge the country into poverty, but that may take longer than a couple of weeks.
The markets have already reacted to the speech and its indeterminate framing of the endgame. Stocks had ticked up in the previous couple of days as investors bet that Trump would declare victory and depart the field, and with it the unlocking of oil distribution through the Strait of Hormuz. Trump tried to reassure Americans that oil prices would shortly return to normal as a natural consequence of the conclusion of hostilities, no matter the terms:
The Strait of Hormuz, the war’s most notable flashpoint, would “open up naturally” once the war ended, Trump claimed. “They’re going to want to be able to sell oil,” Trump said of Iran, “and the gas prices will rapidly come back down, stock prices will rapidly go back up.”
The markets didn't buy that argument, but didn't exactly freak out either:
Stock futures fell and oil rose after President Trump’s prime-time address disappointed investors hoping for a quick end to the Iran war.
In an address late Wednesday, Trump said he was still seeking a diplomatic agreement to end the conflict and that U.S. military aims would be completed “very shortly.” But he also vowed to hit Iran “extremely hard” in the coming weeks and pummel the country “back to the Stone Ages.”
The lack of a clear timeline eroded hopes on Wall Street that the war might come to a speedy end and the Strait of Hormuz could open soon, allowing oil to once again flow freely from the Persian Gulf to world markets.
Futures tied to the S&P 500, Nasdaq-100 and Dow industrials all fell more than 1%. Asian and European stocks declined, with particularly steep losses in South Korea.
Will Americans buy the need for continued operations – and the quiet argument that may have been made for expanding some options? Fox's Jacqui Heinrich saw an effort to make a limited ground operation more palatable as an accelerant toward victory:
Or… public priming for potential new phase of war that could include ground troops + a justification for what’s already been done (after public opinion showed they should have done more of that, earlier) https://t.co/odVvjcBHod
— Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) April 2, 2026
That is my read too, in both of Heinrich's observations. Trump should have given this speech the first week of operations rather than filter the pitch through press briefings and Cabinet remarks. Those who understand the threat Iran posed before the war, manifested in acts of war over the past 47 years, already knew the case. Trump needed to appeal to those less connected to the history and the critical nature of the Iranian threat, and last night's speech likely will help. Hopefully, though, the president will provide more clarity on the status and direction of the war going forward – and get this over with as soon as possible, with the Iranian regime powerless to threaten its neighbors, shipping, or anything else.
Note: For Britons who don't know the LeMay reference, substitute Arthur "Bomber" Harris.
Editor's Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.
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