Looks like Gustavo Petro isn't the only world leader taking a belated lesson about American power as Donald Trump returns to office. Iran's Ali Khamenei has even sported a new look while out in public, the Telegraph reports, donning a stylish flak jacket at a recent funeral -- although that may be out of newfound respect for Israel's re-established air and intel dominance.

However, the Telegraph also reports that Khamenei and his puppet government have ordered its proxies to shut down offensive operations for a while. And that's a direct response to the return of Trump and the unleashing of American military power. They suddenly recognize this as an "existential" threat, a feeling that they clearly haven't had for the last four years:

Iran has ordered its proxy forces across the Middle East to exercise caution as the Islamic Republic fears an existential threat following Donald Trump’s return to the White House, The Telegraph has learned.

Officials have told commanders of Iran-backed militias to avoid provocative actions that could escalate regional tensions. ...

“Forces and allies in the region have been instructed to act with caution as [the regime] feels an existential threat with Trump’s return,” one senior Iranian official told The Telegraph from Tehran.

“In Iraq and Yemen, forces have been told not to target any American assets, and if they do, they are explicitly warned against using Iranian weapons,” the official added.

“They have been told to keep defensive positions for a while and to avoid any actions that might provoke the Americans.”

What a difference a week makes, eh? As one friend quipped over the weekend on social media, "Forget the first 100 days. What about the first 100 hours?" 

The interesting point about this is that the policies of Trump regarding military intervention in that region aren't all that much different than Joe Biden's -- at least on the surface. Trump may even have been more opposed to using American troops in military action there than Biden. Biden did order some limited strikes on the Houthis, although he was hardly enthusiastic about it. The real differences have been in leadership, as well as a refusal to be ashamed to project American power for American interests. We saw that in spades yesterday as Trump humiliated Petro on the world stage for his attempt to grandstand over immigration, and now South America as a whole has to recalculate their own approaches in a hurry.

South American leaders don't have to worry about those changes being "existential," although perhaps Petro may need to worry about the existential impact his bizarre behavior will have on his political career. Iran very much understands that Trump has made the US into a truly existential threat to their regime, and that he's probably just waiting for an excuse to make that point clear. Trump spent his first term underscoring that point, pulling the US out of a shamefully supine deal with Tehran and then taking out Qassem Suleimani when the IRGC killed American troops. After seeing the results of four more years of appeasement, Trump will look for ways to impress upon the mullahs that he means business, and will take any excuse to make those impressions as painful as possible. 

No one took Joe Biden seriously, least of all the mullahs Biden tried to appease. That's why the Houthis have been attacking Red Sea maritime traffic for the last 16 months, with Iranian military support, as a means to punish the West for supporting Israel. Everyone takes Trump seriously, if not literally, which is why Tehran is now saying ixnay on the ed-Ray ea-Say issiles-may. 

Are the Houthis listening? Maybe:

For more than a year, the Houthis have used missiles and drones to target commercial ships and naval vessels sent to protect them in the Red Sea, once one of the world’s busiest trade routes. Shippers have taken to sending vessels around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa instead.

The Houthis have attacked more than 100 vessels in the Red Sea since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel sparked the war in Gaza.

In an email to shippers, the Houthis said they wouldn’t attack U.S. and British vessels while a cease-fire was in effect. The group also this month released 25 crew members of the cargo vessel Galaxy Leader, which they had seized in November 2023.

The rebels, however, said they would still target Israeli vessels. The Houthis in the past have attacked ships that they have claimed to be Israeli but which have had limited or no ties to Israel. Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said the group could resume its attacks if the cease-fire agreement fails.

They'd better pay more attention, lest they hand Trump another FAFO opportunity. The next time they attack Western shipping, the Iranian naval spotters might get the FO part of that equation. 

Again, the real difference is in leadership, which has been missing in the US for the last four years. Biden's "Don't" doctrine was a bitter joke, and his Weekend At Bernie's presidency left an obvious vacancy and vacuum at the top of the Western coalition. That was as true at home as well as abroad, and leadership vacuums have serious consequences. Biden, or the marionette committee that ran Biden, dithered as they tried to manage a decline. Trump has embraced governance in a muscular way, and that has consequences for everyone who took advantage of that vacuum.

Yesterday, Zaid Jilani explained it in a pithy series of posts on Twitter/X:

Whoever the next Dem president is they need to stop with this respect for norms that don’t get us anything. Just govern and win things for the people.

— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) January 27, 2025

Why did Steve Witkoff walk away with a ceasefire and hostage deal? Probably because his boss told him don’t come back until it’s done. Biden never gave anybody a deadline, he was willing to tolerate it forever apparently.

— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) January 27, 2025

Jilani is not a fan of Trump, but he's also not blinded by the American Left's self-loathing, either. A country without leadership is a country in decline, and a world without leadership is a world at war. Trump got more accomplished in a single week for American national security than Biden even tried over four years. 

That's leadership. The only question will be how many FAFO opportunities Trump will have left once everyone realizes that America has it again. 

Update: I couldn't recall who had quipped about the 100 hours, but it turned out to be ... the friend who's done a weekly podcast with me for the last 16 years. Andrew Malcolm has a great VIP column up about it too.