Photograph: GettyUS president Donald Trump’s threat to bomb Iran, a country of about 93 million people, “back into the Stone Ages” has special resonance in Japan. Trump’s defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, later doubled down on the threat on X when he posted: “Back to the Stone Age”. LeMay later reportedly mused to his bombing crews that had United States lost the war then they would have been tried as war criminals. Remarkably, Japan awarded LeMay its highest prize in 1964 for helping to reconstruct the Japanese Self-Defence Forces after the war. Micheál Martin is one of many world leaders who have criticised Trump’s threats to bomb Iran.

Source: The Irish Times April 03, 2026 15:07 UTC