Barely had October ended when Trump delivered his first geopolitical recipe for November: a clandestine aggression against Qeshm which, from the Strait of Hormuz to the American ballot boxes, betrays the panic of a power overwhelmed by Eurasia and ready to flirt with Armageddon to maintain the illusion of a crumbling power.
The eclipse of power
Tuesday, November 3rd, midterm election day in the United States. The polls open in Washington amidst an atmosphere of extreme nervousness and tension. At the same moment, American cruise missiles strike the strategic island of Qeshm in the Strait of Hormuz. Qeshm burns in the heavy silence of an operation kept strictly secret. The Trump administration is attempting a de facto, desperate military coup. This gesture, however, betrays immense domestic political distress. The clandestine operation poorly masks the major cracks in an empire on its last legs. Panic grips the American presidency in the face of the voters’ verdict.
Paradoxically, the American empire is teetering on its geopolitical foundations. The policy of containment has utterly failed. From Taiwan to the Levant, American strategic deterrence is collapsing miserably. Striking Qeshm is purely a military exercise. It is an act of absolute desperation. Washington is trying to mask its global vulnerability. The signal sent to the world is more disastrous than ever. It confirms the impotence of the superpower. Eurasia is watching this turmoil without flinching, especially since American decline has crossed a point of no return. The imperial illusion is thus dissipating in the Persian Gulf.
The trap of Hormuz
Qeshm Island is not a random choice. It is the central stronghold of the Strait of Hormuz. The American military is targeting a major geographical symbol there. But the tactical reality is harsh for Washington. Tehran has mastered the art of asymmetric warfare. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) anticipates every enemy movement with precision.
Before the attack of November 3rd, the escalating rhetoric revealed a cynical contest. Donald Trump declared he wanted to counter the Persian threat with the “mother of all bombs.” General Hossein Salami retorted sharply: Iran would respond with the “father of all missiles “ and transform the Strait of Hormuz into a steel tomb. While the Pentagon spoke of “precision surgery,” Tehran mocked the “blindness of the American eagle.” These bloody wordplays preceded the spark. Trump’s rhetoric crumbled before the reality on the ground.
In reality, Iran possesses devastating strategic retaliation capabilities. Its doctrine relies on unparalleled geographic depth. Its Fattah-2 hypersonic missiles and drone swarms effectively control the Persian Gulf. To the “mother of all bombs,” Tehran now opposes its capacity for asymmetric amputation. The Iranian threat no longer targets only regional bases. It now directly reaches American territory. Washington’s diplomatic and economic missions are accessible targets anywhere in the world. American national security is therefore directly threatened.
This is why military asymmetry brutally reverses the traditional balance of power. A low-cost Iranian missile can neutralize a multi-billion dollar naval vessel. By striking Qeshm, the Trump administration is triggering an uncontrollable chain of events. It is exposing America to a direct conflagration. Tehran’s strategic response will be delayed, indirect, and relentless. Vital American infrastructure remains under the potential fire of this asymmetry. The Iranian trap is inevitably closing in on Washington.
The end of deterrence
The Qeshm attack did not occur in a geopolitical vacuum. It is a direct consequence of a series of major systemic failures accumulated over the past few years. American hegemony is simultaneously crumbling on all fronts.
In Ukraine, since February 2022, the strategic impasse has turned into a serious defeat. American military aid has not swayed Russia’s resolve. The containment doctrine has revealed its structural limitations, resulting in a new, schematic Yalta: China, the United States, and Russia. In Gaza, since October 7, 2023, Washington’s unconditional alignment has destroyed all its diplomatic credibility. The Global South overwhelmingly rejects the Euro-American and Western double standard. In the Indo-Pacific, during the major Chinese military exercises of October 2024 and 2025, the American navy displayed glaring passivity. Beijing is tightening its grip on Taiwan without firing a single shot. Asian partners are now openly questioning American commitment.
Curiously, the Trump administration of “MAGA” and “America First” is accumulating strategic humiliations. The image of an invincible America is definitively tarnished, especially as American impotence is laid bare. The ad hoc use of force de facto reflects a total absence of grand strategic vision. A global geopolitical collapse cannot be compensated for by clandestine strikes. The illusion of control has therefore completely dissipated. The multipolar world is now an unavoidable reality. America no longer frightens anyone.
Paper tigers
Analytically speaking, geopolitical history offers some unforgiving lessons. Declining empires increasingly engage in foreign military adventures. They desperately seek to delay their inevitable collapse through martial posturing. Trump’s America today embodies this historical drift.
The Qeshm attack precipitates a return to the Great Game of alliances, further polarizing the international stage and casting the specter of Armageddon over humanity. This deadly spiral threatens to plunge the world order into destructive chaos. Russia, China, North Korea, and the entire Global South firmly support Iran. Meanwhile, the EU, Europe, NATO, and the West as a whole offer only token support to the United States. In this specific context, the West’s defeat is inevitable; the allies have discovered, too late, that they are more enemies than friends.
These spectacular maneuvers are nothing more than deceitful political posturing. Washington is now acting like a paper tiger. American power roars, but its weapons are powerless against the emerging blocs. The Eurasian adversaries – Moscow, Beijing, Tehran, and Pyongyang – form a solid alliance sealed by the strategic pact of June 2024. They coordinate their strategic actions with clockwork precision. Iran’s diplomatic isolation is pure fantasy, especially since Eurasian integration definitively circumvents Western sanctions.
In this context, striking Qeshm on the very day of the midterm elections is a crude and superfluous electoral tactic. Trump is trying to galvanize his electorate with a display of artificial resolve, accompanied by a smile that threatens to choke him. But international strategy cannot be held hostage to the American electoral calendar. This blurring of lines weakens Washington’s position in the long term. Eurasia reads this desperate game with disconcerting ease. Every covert strike reveals a structural weakness. Every act of bravado accentuates the strategic isolation of the United States. America is only hastening its own global decline.
It is clear that the November 3rd attack on Qeshm Island will go down in the annals of geopolitics. Not for its ludicrous tactical results, but for what it reveals about American power. It seals the historic fiasco of American neo-imperialism. The Trump administration believed it was projecting an image of power restored by MAGA. It has simply displayed its systemic impotence to the entire world. Iran’s military asymmetry will respond to the provocation at the time and place of its choosing.
It can be said that the Eurasian arc emerges strengthened from this dramatic episode. American decline is no longer a theoretical prediction. It is a fait accompli, visible to all. Washington’s superpower status belonged to the last century. On this election day, America contemplates with dread the shadow of its own past. The era of unilateral domination is definitively over. The curtain thus falls on the American century.
Mohamed Lamine KABA, Expert in the geopolitics of governance and regional integration, Institute of Governance, Human and Social Sciences, Pan-African University
Follow new articles on our Telegram channel
