Trump’s Iran gamble

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/02/28/iran-war-strikes-bombing-trump-nuclear/

It’s too early to call the riskiest foreign policy decision of this term a failure or success.

It’s jarring to hear a clear call for democracy in Iran from an American president who campaigned on preventing open-ended conflicts in the Middle East. Success will likely require more than a bombing campaign.

For a generation, Iran has been the world’s biggest state sponsor of terrorism, backing Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and other proxies as they wreaked havoc and killed Americans. The Islamic Republic looks more vulnerable than ever to toppling.

And the U.S. is not going it alone: In addition to Israel’s backing, Saudi Arabia condemned Iranian retaliation. Even Canada expressed support, despite Prime Minister Mark Carney’s recent feud with Trump. Calls for more negotiations from European countries only underscored their irrelevance.

Iran cannot be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon. Trump insisted that last summer’s bunker-buster bombs totally “obliterated” Iran’s enrichment program, but now he says it needs to be “totally, again, obliterated.” It’s always been clear he was exaggerating the success of Operation Midnight Hammer, and Iran has remained unwilling to give up its goal of proliferation. The danger of lobbing some bombs without seeing this through is that Iran’s leaders could become more determined than ever to get a bomb to deter future strikes.