THE TIMES OF MALTA ABOUT IRAN: GETTING CATASTROPHICALLY EVERYTHING WRONG
By Anna Marie
The Times of Malta has emerged as one of the sharpest Maltese critics of President Donald Trump’s handling of the Iran conflict, which erupted on 28 February 2026 with US-Israeli strikes on Iranian targets. Through editorials, news reporting and social-media amplification, the newspaper has consistently framed the campaign as reckless adventurism.
Its editorial board led the charge. In “Easter in the shadow of war”, published on 4 April, the paper lambasted Trump’s “childish threats” to bomb Iran “back to the stone ages” and accused him of incoherence, flip-flopping and being clueless after allegedly being foolishly convinced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It branded the operation a war of choice and one of America’s gravest post-war blunders.The paper also gave prominent space to those who declared that Trump had launched an unnecessary conflict that history would judge harshly. They listed American dead, soaring oil prices and strategic setbacks as proof of failure.
News coverage has reinforced this tone. Articles routinely describe Trump’s warnings as crude, and expletive-laden, while quoting Iranian and Russian condemnations at length. The Times portrays Tehran as provoked rather than the aggressor that closed the Strait of Hormuz and rained missiles on Israel. Social-media posts echo the editorial line, amplifying the narrative that Trump betrayed his “no new wars” pledge for a needless escalation.
The Times of Malta is catastrophically wrong. This was never a war of choice but a necessary response to four decades of Iranian aggression. Since 1979 the Islamic Republic has waged a shadow war through proxies such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis, killing thousands, attacking shipping and racing toward nuclear weapons. When Tehran blockaded the Strait of Hormuz in late February, it committed an act of economic warfare that threatened global energy supplies and Malta’s own shipping-dependent economy. Trump’s targeted strikes degraded missile sites, naval assets and nuclear infrastructure while minimising US ground involvement. Far from the strategic defeat the Times predicted, the operation forced Iran back to the negotiating table. The Strait will reopen and Tehran will hand over its uranium.
The Times ignores context. Intelligence showed Iran nearing breakout capacity. Proxy attacks had already killed Americans and Israelis. Trump’s “peace through strength” approach, precisely what the Times derides as bluster, produced the very leverage appeasement never achieved. History will not condemn decisiveness. It will remember the folly of those who mistook restraint for wisdom while a theocratic regime chased the bomb. The Times of Malta’s reflexive condemnation says more about its editorial prejudice than about the realities of power in the Middle East.