President Trump faces the possibility that at the end of his own two-to-three week window for wrapping up the war in Iran, nothing much will have changed.
The president wants a negotiation, but the Iranians say they are refusing until a cease-fire is declared. And while Marines and the 82nd Airborne Division offer new leverage, the risks escalate quickly.
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.
“并不是说伊朗现在对我们的利益构成了过去47年里从未存在过的威胁,”外交关系委员会前主席、曾于2009年出版研究1991年和2003年两次伊拉克战争的《必然之战,选择之战》(War of Necessity, War of Choice)一书的理查德·哈斯说。他认为,第一次战争的目标明确且可实现:在萨达姆·侯赛因入侵后解放科威特。一旦伊拉克被逐出科威特领土,老布什就决定不再推翻侯赛因政权。
但特朗普周六的决定更像小布什当年试图铲除侯赛因及其政府的决定,理由是其长期以来对国际和平构成威胁。
周六,德黑兰发生数轮爆炸,人们四处奔逃。 Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times
It remains to be seen whether the three big nuclear powers are headed into a new arms race, or whether President Trump is trying to spur negotiations on a new accord now that a last Cold War treaty has expired.
Beijing, Moscow and shaken American allies are seeking new warheads as President Trump ends more than a half century of nuclear arms control with Russia.