General Discussion

They all involved different circumstances from each other.

Germany is not a desert country dependant on salt water desalination for safe drinking. Without power Iran could not operate desalinization plants.

Today's world is far more dependant on electronics and computers than the world of WWII. Defensive and offensive military operations today rely on electronics and computerized systems. So do hospitals, food distribution systems, medicines, and most aspects of modern societies. Today's missiles are far more powerful than WWII bombs were. They can do far worse damage over larger areas.

Missiles can paralyze all the functions of an entire nation through numbers used and targets destroyed. WWII bombs could not do that.

Regarding Native Americans, the weapons technology gap and the huge numbers of invading settlers were deciding factors along with religious zeal and the introduction of new diseases. The political power of those Native nations was destroyed, but the cultures still persist.

Today's weapons can destroy, not just damage, a nation's power to exist as a nation. It can happen faster than Pizzaro in Peru or Cortez in Mexico. If the attacks on power plants include nuclear ones, the resulting radiation would prevent rebuilding.

I agree with your comment about Trump's hyperbole. He gets sadistic pleasure out of terrorizing people with threats. But he also carries out cruel actions against people, sometimes individuals and sometimes large groups. He wants Iran to fear a nuclear attack so that they will give in. If they don't, he will destroy them as a nation, but not by dropping nukes.

His destruction of the Iranian infrastructure would result in the deaths of several thousand civilians. I believe that he counts on such massive murder and destruction to create fear and intimidation in other nations and regions, like Greenland, Denmark, and the rest of Europe, that he would do the same to them.

I think that Trump wants to destroy power plants and bridges in order to cripple Iran's defenses so that he can send US troops already in the region to take over Iran's island and secure US control of Hormuz.