Trump Started a War He Can’t Control
Key takeaways
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- President Donald Trump has become a passenger in the Iran war, despite insisting that he remains behind the wheel after months of failed efforts to reach a peace deal.
- Trump’s limited ability to dictate the war’s direction was on display overnight as Israel and Iran traded fire for the first time since a truce began in early April.
Get audio access with any FP subscription.
U.S. President Donald Trump has become a passenger in the Iran war, despite insisting that he remains behind the wheel after months of failed efforts to reach a peace deal. And by attempting to portray himself as in control and denying complex realities on the ground, he has only made it more difficult to reach an agreement.
Trump’s limited ability to dictate the war’s direction was on display overnight as Israel and Iran traded fire for the first time since a truce began in early April. After Israeli strikes in Beirut on Sunday, which Trump said he was “not happy” about, Iran fired a barrage of ballistic missiles at Israel. The Iranian missiles were intercepted, with no reports of casualties or damage to infrastructure. Following the Iranian missile attack, Trump suggested that he was in control of the situation and that he would ask Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to hit back. “I call the shots. I call all the shots. He [Netanyahu] doesn’t call the shots,” Trump told the Financial Times.