Posted by Alumni from The Atlantic
April 4, 2026
Someone in the White House seems to have put the word out: Stop talking about a free and prosperous Iran, and start talking about pulverizing Iran until you can sift the rubble through a tennis racket. On Wednesday, Donald Trump vowed to bomb Iranian targets hard enough to send them 'back to the Stone Ages where they belong.' Pete Hegseth also tweeted 'back to the stone age,' a military cliche so lazy and flabby that if it were one of his generals, it would be frog-marched to an elliptical machine and forced to melt away its belly fat until its abs showed through. The messaging shift over the past couple of weeks reflects a change in plans, after Iran's resistance proved more vigorous than expected. If Iran will not change its regime's intentions, America will reduce it to resisting American imperial aggression with sticks and stones. This mismatch'with America measuring its success by its destruction of Iran's capabilities, and Iran measuring its success by its stubborn will to... learn more