Palmer Luckey, the creator of the Oculus headset and founder of Anduril Industries a defense company specializing in advanced autonomous systems, has effectively ended the debate over whether strikes on Iran were necessary earlier this year.
When Operation Epic Fury was launched, many blamed the timing on Israeli influence and questioned whether there was any real need to strike Iran at that exact moment. Some even argued it was unnecessary until Iran was closer to completing a nuclear weapon, practically sprinting to the finish line.
But the best explanation to date, offered by Luckey, points to a different driver: the influence of China.
Luckey revealed that China had been providing Iran with the manufacturing capacity to expedite its production of ballistic missiles. At the time of the U.S. strikes, Tehran was only a few months into that accelerated process. Had Washington waited, even a couple of years, Iran would have had the opportunity to transform itself into a far more formidable force, amassing vast stockpiles of missiles and advanced missile defense systems. That would have made the kind of attack the United States launched far more difficult, if not impossible, without exposing American pilots and soldiers to significantly greater risk.
In effect, Tehran could have sheltered behind its missile defenses and pursued nuclear weapons unthreatened, much like North Korea has done.
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🇺🇸🇮🇷 Anduril's founder, Palmer Luckey, argues the U.S. had no choice but to take action in Iran:
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) July 15, 2026
"China provided Iran with manufacturing equipment and expertise that caused a steep curve upwards in their ballistic missile production capacity.
If you allowed them to continue for…
"China had provided Iran with manufacturing equipment and manufacturing expertise that had caused a steep curve upwards in their ballistic missile production capacity, and that they were only a few months into that production capacity. If you allowed them to continue that for even two years, they would build an arsenal that is so vast that we could never afford to take action," Luckey said. "They could build nuclear weapons with impunity, they could strike US or allied bases with impunity, and we just wouldn't be able to do anything."
"This is like the North Korea scenario," he added. "North Korea has so much artillery built up in the hills that we really can't even dream of doing anything against them, right? They build nukes. We can't do anything about it because they're going to pound Seoul into pieces with weapons from 50 years ago. And so I think the steel man is we could not let the Iran situation turn into North Korea on steroids."
American strength must be projected, not just built at home.
It doesn’t matter how fortified our own defenses are if we can’t shape events abroad. America leads the free world not only because we seek to share our superior values, but because global stability is essential to our own prosperity. Technological innovation depends on open trade, and open trade depends on secure seas and stable partners. If we allow adversaries like Iran to keep exporting terrorism, or to threaten oil flows and impede progress among our Gulf allies, we make our job at home that much harder.
Strength isn’t just about what we can defend; it’s about what we can deter.
Editor's Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.
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