U.S. bombers and submarines attacked three nuclear sites in Iran on Saturday, nine days after Israel unleashed widespread air strikes against the country. The attack came as a surprise, days after President Trump said he would wait up to two weeks to make a decision on military action. In an address to the nation late Saturday, Trump called the operation against Iran’s nuclear enrichment capabilities a “spectacular” success, but he also threatened Iran with more strikes it if didn’t seek peace. Iran previously threatened to retaliate against the U.S. should it enter the war, but it’s not yet clear how the regime will respond now that the U.S. has. Below are the latest developments, along with analysis and commentary.
In announcing the “spectacular military success” of the bombing and cruise missile attack he ordered on three of Iran’s nuclear facilities, and suggesting it should end Iran’s war with Israel, Donald Trump is the latest U.S. president to pursue a long-standing American fantasy: an antiseptic (to the attacker, at least) victory by air thanks to the precision of our technology and its masterful deployment by our military, leaving primitive adversaries befuddled and incapable of any effective response. This fantasy, of course, turned out to be central to three of America’s most famous military failures, in Vietnam, in Iraq and in Afghanistan. In all three cases the U.S. had to commit massive ground forces to achieve, and ultimately concede, its military and geopolitical objectives.
Indeed, the futility of believing we can win victories without long and painful sacrifice was a major contributor to Trump’s own “America First” repudiation of involvement in Forever Wars. Maybe he’s squared every circle and figured out the precise combination of strategy and tactics to enable the United States to consummate a military victory by its ally Israel without the kind of horrendous consequences we’ve experienced in the past. But those of us who have lived through past exposures of American hubris in seeking quick and painless victories will need some convincing that Trump hasn’t followed exactly the same path as the predecessors he has mocked and deplored.