Entering War’s Third Week, Trump Faces Stark Choices
As the conflict with Iran expands and intensifies, President Trump’s options — to fight on, or to move toward declaring victory and pulling back — both carry deeply problematic consequences.
As the conflict with Iran expands and intensifies, President Trump’s options — to fight on, or to move toward declaring victory and pulling back — both carry deeply problematic consequences.
President Trump is the first American leader to embrace fighting a full-fledged, joint war with Israel. Washington has tried to avoid that level of coordination in the past.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday would be the most intense day of the U.S. air campaign in Iran as a vital oil supply route remained choked off.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that the disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz were “something we are dealing with.” And about 2,500 Marines were headed to the Middle East to bolster the war effort.
Several senior Iranian officials showed up at the government-sponsored rally, marking Quds Day, an annual anti-Israel event that was shaken by explosions from the U.S.-Israeli aerial assault.
The defense secretary said the leader of an Iranian unit that had planned to assassinate President Trump had been killed. But U.S. officials privately acknowledge the story is not that simple.
At a news conference, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave no indication of how long it would take before the Navy could escort civilian cargo ships through the Strait of Hormuz.
The American and Israeli air forces have a dominant advantage in the skies, but Iran can still muster some resistance.
The defense secretary has disparaged restrictive rules for opening fire that are aimed at reducing the risk of mistakes and civilian casualties.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s bellicose and vengeful rhetoric describing the military’s war in Iran grew out of his experience in Iraq.