Why a Superpower Finds Itself Alone

The Steady State | by Amb. (ret.) Bonnie D. Jenkins

Our allies refusal to join us in Iran is a warning. If America does not rebuild respect, credibility, and partnership, isolation will be the new normal.

Our allies refusal to join the United States in its war in Iran is framed by the current Administration as a failure of allied courage or commitment. It is neither. Instead, it is a damning judgment on the actions of this Administration toward America’s partners and allies, international law and multilateralism, democratic principles, and human rights. This judgment is a significant shift that, if unaddressed, will undermine U.S. international relations for years to come.

I cannot recall another moment in my 36-year diplomatic career when none of our traditional partners and allies chose to stand with the United States. Contrast this with NATO’s response after the 9/11 attacks. Our NATO allies honored America’s invocation of Article 5 of the NATO Charter, which states that an armed attack against one member is considered an attack against all, and commits members to assist the attacked party. NATO provided troops and military support. This was the first time Article 5 was instituted, and our allies proudly stood with us.

Not today. The U.S. has been rebuffed by nations that have unhesitatingly stood with us.

Now we are isolated, and we did this to ourselves. This isolation is the predictable outcome of a new domestic and foreign-relations pattern of making unreasonable demands, lacking a consistent strategy, being unpredictable and, most of all, treating partners and allies as tools rather than sovereign equals.

For decades, U.S. diplomacy operated on a simple principle: before taking major international action, consult with partners and allies. In 2018, when the U.S. bombed Syria in response to Syria using chemical weapons, we engaged with France and the United Kingdom. Ultimately, we announced that the United States, France, and the United Kingdom launched combined “precision strikes” against Syrian targets.

During my long diplomatic career, we consulted regularly with other countries. Our outreach was based on the premise that good relationships and trust build legitimacy. Successful diplomacy is about engaging countries on a regular basis, even our adversaries. It is how a responsible state in the international system behaves, especially a powerful nation.

Responsible consultation also demonstrates humility. A concept the current Administration does not seem to understand. Being powerful does not require threats or shows of military strength to achieve goals.

The basic principle of engaging partners and allies was absent in our war with Iran. Allies were not properly informed before the strikes. Countries with citizens in Iran were not adequately warned that their people, their infrastructure, or their companies could be at risk. There was little visible attempt to engage the United Nations or to seek earnest multilateral backing. Regular engagements with allies and others were replaced by something different: act first, then complain later if no one follows.

This unilateral instinct is reflected by the way we have treated some of our closest partners. Take South Korea, for example. The United States may soon withdraw key air defense assets, including the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), from South Korea to deploy them to the Middle East. There is little South Korea can do to stop the U.S. from doing so. However, since the end of the Korean War we have assured South Korea that we have their backs, and that they will benefit from our extended deterrence. In fact, we have convinced them not to develop a nuclear weapon because of that extended deterrence. Simply withdrawing these systems is short-sighted, as are American tariffs on South Korea affecting Korean industries and workers, and the recent detention and deportation of over 300 South Korean workers from a Hyundai-LG Energy Solution battery plant construction site in Georgia that was to provide jobs for Americans. These actions tell South Korea that the United States treats security and economic ties as bargaining chips rather than the foundation of a shared strategy.

Our approach to NATO, and Europe more broadly, also sends a destructive message. Questioning NATO’s value, criticizing and mocking European nations and leaders, and floating ideas like buying Greenland - the territory of a NATO ally - sends an unmistakable message: Washington knows best, and allies are expected to fall in line.

The moral and legal dimensions of recent U.S. behavior increase our isolation.

America’s allies have witnessed this Administration’s questionable uses of force, such as sinking boats in the Caribbean on the claim that the boats carried drug traffickers. Claims that lack transparent evidence to justify that that action, which include killing the crews of those vessels once the vessels have been immobilized. To date, U.S. Southern Command reports that U.S. military strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific have killed over 150 people. Similarly, the United States has invaded Venezuela and taken President Maduro prisoner. These actions have been labeled by some lawyers as violations of international law. President Trump, however, made it clear in early 2026 that his actions and use of American power are constrained only by his “own morality” and his “own mind,” not by international law. Relying on his own morality and own mind, President Trump pardoned the former President of Honduras, who had been convicted of Narco-Trafficking, as well as individuals who committed other criminal acts, including the January 6^th rioters.

The international community has also witnessed American mistreatment of migrants and asylum seekers through family separations, an abandonment of due process, harsh detention conditions, and violently aggressive immigration raids. They have witnessed the detention and killing of American citizens. They’ve seen people, including children, dying in U.S. detention centers. The United States projects the image of a country that is disturbingly comfortable with the suffering of vulnerable populations.

This moral indifference is not limited to our borders or even just our hemisphere. The dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has worsened starvation. In 2025, for example, the U.S. incinerated nearly 500 metric tons (about 1 million pounds) of taxpayer-funded emergency food aid stored in Dubai after delays caused by USAID staffing cuts. The food was to be sent to hungry children in crises. We then followed this up by withdrawing from over 66 international organizations, some of which address issues affecting women, children, and the effects of climate change.

These acts erode any perception that the United States is a defender of human rights. We are now on “that side” of the list of countries with little to no moral authority or a guardian of a rules-based order.

Yet there is more.

Countries around the world watch this Administration, and this President, make extreme and racist statements, and use racist images. There are no filters to mask their racism, nor does the Administration and its supporters seem to care how these statements resonate domestically and abroad. The President and many of his friends are connected to Jeffrey Epstein and are alleged to have engaged in sexual crimes. Foreign governments have acted against leaders implicated in the Epstein scandal. Yet this Administration hides the facts and blames political opponents. Leadership matters, as do the personal entanglements of leaders.

For democratic governments that must answer to voters and taxpayers, joining a controversial U.S. war is not just a security decision—it is a reputational gamble. Foreign publics see the pattern of scandals, alleged abuse, and an apparent lack of full or even partial legal accountability. Few responsible leaders want to explain to their citizens why they aligned their country with a government perceived as indifferent to basic human rights and the crime of sexual abuse. The Trump Administration appears oblivious to the fact that “business is not usual” in a country where a major scandal involves its leadership and those around it. Some may wish to pretend others won’t be affected, or that the public won’t care, but leaders of democratic nations know their constituencies care. They will weigh this in their calculations of association with the U.S. and, when they can, find ways to dissociate themselves from this Administration and the “Epstein class.”

Our allies’ refusal to support the United States in Iran is more than a question about why the United States and Israel invaded Iran and how the war will end. The hard truth is that many now see the United States as a rogue actor and inconstant ally. We are seen as a country that disregards international law when it is inconvenient, undercuts multilateral institutions while insisting others respect them, treats human life as negotiable both at home and abroad, and uses alliances as instruments of pressure rather than partnerships of mutual respect.

There is another truth this Administration and this Nation must confront: military power alone does not confer leadership, nor does it automatically confer respect. This Administration cannot bomb its way into legitimacy. The U.S. cannot ignore international processes that help ensure stability in the international system – a system the United States helped establish after World War II.

Sadly, this Administration has repeatedly shown itself willing to punish or abandon partners when convenient, and there is no reason to assume this would be any different were an ally to provide military support to the Iranian War. Under those conditions, refusal is not seen by our allies as betrayal. It is seen as responsible self-preservation.

If the United States wants allies to stand with it again in future crises, it must change course.

As a start, this Administration must restore a strong, respected State Department and make genuine consultation with allies the default, not the exception. Partners and allies must be treated as equals, not subordinates. This Administration must publicly and clearly commit to following international law, supporting the United Nations, and engaging in serious multilateral diplomacy.

Just as importantly, The Administration must align the United States’ domestic policies with the values we claim to uphold. It must end abusive detention practices, value migrant lives, and hold our own officials to account when they violate the law or basic ethics. If we fail to rebuild international respect, credibility, and partnership, we will be treated as a rogue national and inconstant ally, which will only benefit America’s adversaries.

Ambassador (ret.) Bonnie Jenkins is currently the Shapiro Visiting Professor of International Affairs at the Elliot School of International Affairs at George Washington University. She is also Founder and Executive Director of Women of Color Advancing Peace and Security (WCAPS). Jenkins served as the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. From 2009 – 2017, Jenkins served as Special Envoy and Coordinator for Threat Reduction Programs in the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation with the rank of Ambassador. She is a member of The Steady State.

Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 400 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines, including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs, and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law, and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.