Age and wisdom are supposed to be travelling companions, but increasingly I find I need to have some things explained to me. They are as follows:

1) On March 14, 2026, US President Donald Trump claimed on Truth Social that the United States had “already destroyed 100 per cent of Iran’s military capability”. Yet Iran continued to carry out successful missile attacks on radar systems, satellite communications, and mission-critical aircraft at several US bases in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. It has inflicted damage to oil facilities in several Gulf States, set fire to a Kuwaiti tanker loaded with 1.5 million barrels of oil, and has shot down a number of US military aircraft. An amazing achievement after its military capability had been completely destroyed!

2) Aboard Air Force One on Sunday March 29 Trump declared: “We’ve had regime change in Iran.” The supreme leader, who was killed by US-Israeli strikes on February 28, was quickly succeeded by his son. The revolutionary guard still controls Iran. Regime change?

3) “With a little more time, we can easily open the Strait of Hormuz, take the oil and make a fortune,” the US president wrote in a social media post on Friday, April 4. Two days later, on April 6, he reiterated, “If I had my choice, I’d keep the oil. Unfortunately, the American people would like to see us come home. If it were up to me, I’d take the oil, I’d keep the oil, it would bring plenty of money.” Is this not what is called piracy?

4) On March 20 Trump said, “We don’t need the Strait of Hormuz.” He followed up on March 30 saying that he’s willing to end the war against Iran even if the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed. On April 1, he declared that the US “imports almost no oil through the Hormuz Strait and won’t be taking any in the future. We don’t need it”. He went on to say that the US will not have anything to do with what happens in the strait and that keeping the vital waterway open was the responsibility of countries that rely on it. But on April 4, he said, “Hell will reign down on Iran if the regime doesn’t agree to open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours.” After negotiations between the US and Iran failed to reach an agreement, Trump announced that the US will impose a blockade on the strait. Fuzzy!

5) “Open the F****n’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH!” No, this wasn’t a muted outburst caught by a hot microphone that was not intended for public consumption. It was Trump posting on
Truth Social two Sundays ago. Good gracious! What prose! And we thought it couldn’t get any worse?

6) Both India and Pakistan possess nuclear weapons. Neither is a signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, but the international community has blinked at this abnormality, justifying it on the grounds that it provides some mutual deterrence between the two countries with historical conflicts. Why is the same reasoning not applied to Iran and Israel? Israel’s sturdy nuclear arsenal is a poorly kept secret, defined as “strategic ambiguity” or “nuclear opacity”.

7) White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller, on March 18, said, “The American military objective is to neuter the regime — to render them impotent.” What is to prevent Israel from capitalising on Iran’s defencelessness and launching attacks to finish them off? Is that also a strategic objective?

8) When asked when he would be satisfied that it is time to end the war on Iran, Trump said on March 13, “When I feel it in my bones.” Is that how wars involving death and destruction are ended?

8) European leaders learnt by way of a post on Truth Social of Trump’s call for them to join in the war against Iran, and he fumed when they refused to do so or failed to respond. What kind of statecraft is that?

7) Two Wednesdays ago, Trump threatened, not for the first time, to withdraw the US from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) because it has refused to become involved in the war with Iran. How could it? Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty provides that an attack on any one member State, specifically in Europe or North America, is an attack on all and warrants a collective response. When did Iran attack the US? And where is Iran located?

8) Speaking in the Oval Office on March 31, Trump said the US will leave Iran within two to three weeks, “whether we have a deal or not”, so long as its ability to produce a nuclear bomb has been neutralised. But didn’t Trump declare in June 2025, after the initial US bombardment, that Iran’s nuclear facilities had been obliterated?

9) Some of the 1971 additional protocols to the Geneva Conventions prohibit attacks on energy plants, water supply installations, and civilian infrastructure, rendering them as war crimes. On the very first day of the war — February 28 — a US tomahawk cruise missile struck an elementary girls school in Minab, southern Iran, killing over 160 people, mostly students. Trump has more recently threatened to bomb Iran’s power-generating plants, bridges, and even its desalination plants. Both Iran and Israel have similarly carried out missile attacks on civilian facilities with reckless abandon. What does rogue behaviour of this kind by these three states render them?

10) When asked on January 7 if he was mindful of US violations of international law and whether there was any limit to his power, Trump responded, “Yeah, there is one thing: my own morality, my own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me. I don’t need international law.” On Monday, April 6, Trump declared that he is not at all concerned about committing war crimes and refused to say whether any civilian targets in Iran, including schools, would be off limits. Rule of law, rule by man, or sheer gangsterism?

11) Trump declared on March 16 that as soon as the war is over the price of oil will “drop like a rock”. The disruption in oil supply and the damage to oil installations in several gulf states will not be rectified in short order, thereby sustaining high prices. The chokehold that Iran maintains on the Strait of Hormuz, — restricting passage to vessels from a select number of countries and imposing a charge of up to US$2 million per vessel — will add further pressure on oil supply and prices. Iran stands to benefit from higher oil prices. Its oil revenues have increased significantly since the start of the war, and it may well choose to keep up the pressure as those revenues will assist in repairing the damage it has suffered during the war. Drop like a rock?

12) Trump insists that he must be involved in selecting the next leader of Iran. It is one thing for the people of Iran to be ruled by someone they did not elect, but to be ruled by someone chosen by a hostile foreign leader?

13) Trump declared on April 1 that President Barack Obama gave US$1.7 billion in cash to Iran in 2016. This was money belonging to Iran that was frozen after the revolution that overthrew the Shah of Iran in 1979 and was returned as part of the US-Iran nuclear deal. Disingenuous?

14) Trump declared recently that God supports the war against Iran, never mind the mass slaughter of women and children. Really? What kind of God is that? Iran would no doubt claim that Allah supports the war against Israel. And which deity supports Israel’s war against Gaza and Lebanon?

15) On February 11, then US Attorney General Pam Bondi declared that Trump was the greatest president in the history of America. This one requires a whole heap of explaining.

16) The chairman of the Federal Reserve occupies a pivotal position. His utterances, more than those of the president, can roil or calm financial markets, not only in the US, but across the world. Yet Trump declared that he is “incompetent, crooked, [and] a fool”.

17) Trump, in an unprecedented move for a US president, attended the Supreme Court hearing on his executive order to curtail birthright citizenship. Was this intended to dare them to rule against him? Is it not likely to have the opposite effect, making it difficult for even the conservative justices to exercise their bias in his favour lest they appear to have been intimidated by his presence?

18) In reacting to the passing of special counsel Robert Mueller, Trump posted, “Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!” Couldn’t he have kept his glee to himself?

19) Trump has used an executive order to restrict mail-in voting. The US Constitution vests responsibility and authority in individual states — not the federal government — to administer elections. Trump’s intervention hangs on the fact that mail-in ballots are transmitted through the United States Postal Service (USPS), which is a federal agency. But the stated grounds for restriction, “to enhance election integrity” and the validation of citizenship, have nothing to do with the role of the USPS. How is that going to work out?

20) The US blocked all shipments of oil to Cuba, then asked the Cuban Government to allow it to ship in fuel for its embassy’s generators. Seriously?

21) Congress passed a law that was signed by Trump on November 19, 2025 requiring the Department of Justice release all the Jeffrey Epstein files within 30 days. To date, approximately 2.5 million documents have not yet been released and no explanation has been offered for withholding them. Who is to compel the Department of Justice to comply with the law? The Department of Justice?

I sympathise with American career diplomats here and across the world. They have a duty to explain and defend the pronouncements, policies, decisions, and actions of their Government. It must be a really difficult assignment to carry out.

Bruce Golding served as the eighth prime minister of Jamaica from September 2007 to October 2011.

Bruce Golding.