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Dear Europe: Trump Is Trying to Use Iran to Distract the USA from His Sacrificing Ukraine to Russia

  • Writer: john raymond
    john raymond
  • Jun 15
  • 3 min read

Across Europe, there is a growing disquiet—an unease that the world has entered a perilous phase, not just of war, but of orchestrated misdirection. That unease is correct. As Israel and Iran exchange missiles and blood, and as Ukraine’s strategic offensive shows signs of both daring and desperation, a darker reality is unfolding within the walls of Mar-a-Lago and the Kremlin. The war in the Middle East is not just a consequence of failing diplomacy or ancient grievance. It is being used. And it is being used by Donald Trump to redirect American attention—away from Ukraine, away from Russia, and toward a conflict he believes he can control and exploit.


This is not merely political opportunism. It is betrayal disguised as statecraft.


Trump’s ultimate goal remains what it has always been: autocracy. The office of the presidency is a stepping stone to personal power. His alliance with Vladimir Putin is not a bug, it is the axis of his plan. In exchange for sacrificing American support for Ukraine—long the frontline of democratic resistance against Russian expansion—Trump hopes to gain not just favor in Moscow, but space to construct his own “sphere of influence” here at home. A dictatorship, not by overt declaration, but by erosion: of legal norms, of press freedom, of judicial independence.


To achieve that, he needs chaos. And he needs the American public—already reeling from inflation, war fatigue, and polarized media—to be looking elsewhere. Iran offers that elsewhere.


The Iran War as Cover

The eruption of war between Israel and Iran did not surprise those watching Trump closely. The intelligence community had already warned of Israel’s intent to act, and Trump’s administration did nothing to restrain it—instead, it quietly blessed it. The result was exactly what Trump desired: headlines full of drone swarms, missile strikes, “retaliations,” and the threat of regional escalation. The kind of chaos that overwhelms attention, that demands patriotic fervor, that distracts from quieter betrayals.


For while Americans rally around their ally in Tel Aviv and try to parse the complicated map of the Middle East, Trump is actively cutting the legs out from under Ukraine. Funding is quietly stalled. Pressure mounts on Kyiv to “negotiate” on terms more favorable to Moscow. The administration downplays Operation Spiderweb not because it wasn’t a triumph—it was—but because it undercuts the narrative that Ukraine is weak and must settle. And in backrooms, Trump’s envoys speak of a “bipolar” peace between America and Russia—one that excludes Europe entirely.


In short: Trump is trying to trade Ukraine for Iran. And in doing so, he is reshaping the map not of war, but of allegiance.


What This Means for Europe

Europe must now confront a harrowing truth: it may soon stand alone.

With Trump’s pivot, the United States will not defend Ukraine much longer—not if it means jeopardizing his relationship with Putin. And it will not support a broader NATO response if Trump believes that Ukraine’s independence is expendable and Iran’s destruction is politically useful. The old assumptions—that Washington will always anchor Europe’s defense, that a Russian victory in Kyiv is unthinkable, that American leadership aligns with European interests—are dissolving before our eyes.


If Europe does not prepare now, it will be forced to choose: capitulation to a new Russian-American sphere of “great powers,” or true continental sovereignty built on its own defense and values.


So See the Pattern Before It Is Too Late

Trump is not stupid. He is shrewd. And like all autocrats, he knows that the easiest way to consolidate power is to create an enemy, a war, a crisis large enough to demand loyalty and silence dissent. Iran provides that. And Putin, long master of exploiting Western distraction, sees the opportunity clearly.


Europe, do not be fooled. Ukraine’s abandonment is not a side effect—it is the objective. And while Iranian cities burn and Israeli jets fly, the fate of Kyiv is being decided in silence.


Speak now, act now. Because after Iran, it may be too late.




 
 
 

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