With a single Truth Social post, US President Donald Trump announced a halt to his war against Iran just as it was on the brink of a perilous escalation. The Islamic regime, predictably, claimed the US had “surrendered to the Iranian nation’s determination”, but said it too would agree to a two-week ceasefire.
Trump’s war of choice was a reckless gamble from the start, lacking coherent goals or a day-after plan. After more than five weeks of conflict, which spread across the Middle East, cost thousands of — mostly Iranian — lives, roiled energy markets and threatened to trigger a global economic crisis, the truce brought relief for millions of people.
There were no winners in this war. The US declared military victory and the war certainly hit hard Iran’s military and industrial infrastructure. But Iran also emerged with the Islamic regime still in place — perhaps even more radical — and with new leverage in its control over the strategic Strait of Hormuz. Trump may muse about a change of regime but Iran’s new leader is the son of Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader assassinated on the first day of the war.