Trump's Iran war whiplash clouds U.S. endgame

 https://www.axios.com/2026/03/12/trump-iran-war-endgame

Nearly two weeks in, Trump continues to send conflicting signals about how and when the fighting ends. The confusion has left both allies and adversaries struggling to plan for what comes next.

When Trump announced the war on Feb. 28, he laid out four objectives: destroy Iran's navy, degrade its ballistic missile capability, put a nuclear weapon beyond reach and end Iranian support for regional proxies.

On the metrics Trump has touted publicly, the war is going well. On the objective that most justified launching it, the U.S. is not there yet.

With no direct dialogue between Washington and Tehran, and with Trump hinting he wants new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei dead, Iran has little incentive to stand down.