U.S. President Donald Trump in Houston, Texas, U.S., August 28, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
After more than six months, a conflict that U.S. President Donald Trump promised would be brief — the war with Iran — drags on. Trump's Iran policy is wildly unpopular in Europe, yet Trump is still trying to convince the United States' European allies that that war is beneficial for them. And according to the i Paper's James Ball, Trump's comments on Europe, Iran and nuclear weapons during a recent interview with GB News defy all logic and reason.
Ball, writing in the UK-based i Paper, describes Trump's comments during the interview as "a display of an increasingly elderly and incoherent man, ranting only semi-coherently about world affairs."
"Trump used to be a man who wanted to look in control at all times," Ball argues. "Now, though, he just looks like he's lost it."
Trump, during the interview, insisted that the war with Iran is designed to protect Europe. But Trump's arguments, according to Ball, were full of glaring contradictions.
"In the interview," Ball explains, "Trump said that his reason for launching a war against Iran earlier this year had been to avert the possibility of Iran using nuclear weapons against its enemies — and suggested that this could have included the UK. 'I'm saving your country from the threat too,' he explained. This is a strange chain of logic, not least because Trump and his officials claimed repeatedly — dozens of times, over a period of months — that joint strikes by the U.S. and Israel in 2025 had 'totally obliterated' Iran's nuclear capabilities, and promised it would take 'many years' for Iran to recover."
Ball continues, "Now, Trump says, his 2026 conflict — which he promised would last for just weeks, and which is still stuck in stalemate after six months — was essential to stopping a nuclear-armed Iran, and that it was essential for the UK and Europe's safety."
Trump, Ball observes, "seems fixated on securing the gratitude of British and European politicians for a war they didn't want him to start."
"Trump's logic as to why his war was good for Europe is confused, to say the least: Iran's missiles, he claims, can reach Europe but not America," Ball argues. "'Because if Iran had a nuclear weapon, they're more likely to use it in Europe, where they do have missile capability, than they are in America, where they don't,' he said. 'I'm saving your country from a problem because they would use it.'"
The i Paper reporter adds, "This is an odd way to understand a nuclear capability. Countries don't immediately launch nuclear missiles as soon as they obtain them — instead, they generally use them to try to deter invasion by their adversaries. Why Iran would immediately launch its theoretical nukes against European nations who hadn't involved themselves in the war against it is never spelt out by Trump. That confusion is compounded by Trump's insistence on repeating U.S. right-wing clichés about Britain. Trump said that London was full of 'no-go' areas that police dare not visit, and that this lawlessness was caused by immigration … If Britain is apparently changing so fast under immigration, and becoming an Islamic country, why would it still be so high on Iran's target list?"
