To War, or Not to War?
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Apparently we almost went to war with Iran while I was drinking last night?
President Trump approved military strikes against Iran in retaliation for downing an American surveillance drone, but pulled back from launching them on Thursday night after a day of escalating tensions.
As late as 7 p.m., military and diplomatic officials were expecting a strike, after intense discussions and debate at the White House among the president’s top national security officials and congressional leaders, according to multiple senior administration officials involved in or briefed on the deliberations.
Officials said the president had initially approved attacks on a handful of Iranian targets, like radar and missile batteries.
The operation was underway in its early stages when it was called off, a senior administration official said. Planes were in the air and ships were in position, but no missiles had been fired when word came to stand down, the official said.
This is not a “the DEEP STATE WANTS WAR BUT TRUMP SAYS NO” situation. Apparently, the biggest pushback is coming from the Pentagon, while Trump’s own appointees are pushing hard for war. The result is incoherence. And of course the entire situation is a direct result of Trump’s decision to pull out of the JCPOA, which is having predictable consequences for regional security. It’s good that Trump appears unsettled by the prospect of war, but this is a hole that he has dug for himself.