News Analysis: Trump, long a critic of 'forever wars,' may be stumbling into one with Iran

Los Angeles Times ^ | July 20, 2026 3 AM PT | Nabih Bulos

[E. Pluribus Unum]

• The war with Iran has been marked by collapsed ceasefires, expanding airstrikes and mounting American and Iranian casualties.
• In recent days the U.S. military announced the deaths of three more servicemembers, two of whom died in an Iranian missile strike.
• The U.S. is pressing on with a fight that has no end in sight — or even a clear definition of what an acceptable end would be.

BEIRUT — President Trump long railed against forever wars.

For years, whether as president or candidate, he flayed electoral opponents and previous presidents with his signature barbs, calling their entanglements a “complete waste of time” (Afghanistan), “the worst single mistake ever made in the history of our country” (Iraq) and “stupid” (Ukraine).

Yet he now appears to be stumbling into a forever war of his own.

From the first days of the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran, Trump and his officials insisted their adventure abroad would be the exception, that the conflict would end in a matter of weeks.

Now, 4½ months later, after a torturous, start-stop vacillation between truce and war, the U.S. is pressing on with a fight that has no end in sight — or even a clear definition of what an acceptable end would be.

In the last week, the ceasefire collapsed, with the U.S. and Iran trading daily waves of strikes, leading to the deaths of two American servicemen on Friday when Iranian ballistic missiles struck Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, where U.S. assets and personnel are stationed.

On Sunday, as the U.S. and Iran launched more air assaults, the U.S. announced that a service member was killed Saturday in Iraq during the controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian one-way attack drone.

The deaths in Jordan were the first combat fatalities since the U.S...

[unclebankster]

That the U.S. is fighting a “war with Islam” at all.

************************

These silly crusaders that want to fight an endless war with Islam, costing us blood & treasure are wrongheaded.

The answer is to limit our exposure to Islamic countries in the first place. My policy would be: Don’t let them migrate here & keep our military out of their countries. If commerce can happen without military intervention, then I’m ok with that.

“Good neighbors should have good fences.”

[Red6]

That statement is simply representative of where you stand and what “news” you watch.

I doubt that would be the case.

Canada:
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/24/canadians-opinions-of-the-us-and-its-president-are-at-or-near-historic-lows/

US:
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2026/05/01/trump-loses-ground-on-several-personal-traits-as-approval-rating-slips/

That is for a sitting US President in his second year in office entirely normal: https://www.quorum.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Biden-Approval-Rating-640x335.jpeg

[Pelham]

Now add in the 65 other Japanese cities that got the same treatment as Tokyo.

The two atomic bombs garner all of our attention because they were dramatic. If they hadn’t worked the unrelenting firebombing was in the process of burning the entire country down.

We are fighting a war concentrated on Iran’s weapons and its ability to make trouble for everybody else. That takes more time than the easier option of making the country unlivable and creating a massive refugee crisis.

[charleywhiskey]

I must have missed that. Have Iranian troops been attacking people in your neighborhood? How have they done that and when did it start?

[Pelham]

“Trump has shown that he is no Gnerneral Patton on war strategy.”

Great, except that Patton’s role was entirely tactical and operational warfighting.

But he wasn’t involved in strategy. He would have been in Berlin ahead of the Russians if he had a say on strategy.

[Pelham]

Or in the case of NYC, electing them mayor.

[Paul R.]

Good post. What so many are missing here is any sense of history and context of war.

That said, Iran is missing something Japan had - their Emperor was considered a deity but was in fact pragmatic and ultimately had the best outcome for his people that was practical, in mind. That didn’t include becoming martyrs to be rewarded with, I guess, ghost virgins.

The Mullahs and IRGC don’t give a crap about the Iranian people so long as the regime can pursue their zealotry. They would reduce Iran to North Korea or lower poverty in that quest. The difference from NK is that many Iranians have some clue about the outside world, and many know that even before this war flared up, their economy has declined greatly under the Mullahs and IRGC. That doesn’t even count the severe problems with Iran’s once magnificent water supply system — almost all induced by the gov’t.

Some posters seem to think we need to follow the Russia-Chechnya model and blast Iran into shreds. This is silly. We can fairly easily take out Iran’s refined products supply, which will largely straight-jacket them. That WILL be rough on the population, but by focusing this tactic, we can fairly quickly restore at least livable conditions.

There is another asset the allied Gulf States have, too, but I don’t know if they, or even our DOD / Petey-baby, realize it: I learned yesterday that some 65% of the Saudi population are gamers. Holy Carp — That’s over 23 million people, not counting very likely gamers in other rich West-leaning Gulf nations. Select 10% of them and give them a new game: Smothering Iran with cheap FPV drones. Poland or S. Korea or Philippines or all 3 can produce the many millions of drones. (Poland has millions of Ukie refugees who need productive jobs, and the money from Saudi will boost their economy.)

Can you say “asymmetric”? (Ironic, eh?)

Are logistics leaking into Iran a problem? Not anymore. Missile launchers in tunnels a problem? Not when a nasty UAE drone made in Cebu flies in the minute an entrance is opened. Backed by US air superiority and comms, well, this gives “air superiority” a whole new meaning.

I don’t how fast this level of drone tech can be put to work, large scale, but, the US and its allies have a lot of experience from the Russia-Ukraine war to draw on, and vastly, vastly greater resources than does Iran. IMO, with someone’s foot on the gas, it could start becoming relevant in a month or so.

[norsky]

Nonsense, Tousi is great reporting, 52000 killed protesting the govt of Iran last Jan. If we degrade the IRGC enough, the citizens with the help of the defectors and underground “Immortal Guard”, those faithful to the exiled Prince, and strategic stikes from us and Israel, IRGC will be gone

[Maris Crane]

THIS IS A LONG WAR???????

What in God’s name is WRONG WITH THIS STUPID WRITER.

I swear they will write ANYTHING that causes CHAOS.

SHUT UP!!!!!

[Red6]

Tell me,

—Are you the super religious type for whom Trump, even though he has done more for Christians than the last four Presidents, is not pious enough?

—Or are you the type of Republican who wants a “moderate” and more “dignified” President that goes along with gun control, tax raises, abortion?

Trump, the best thing since Teddy Roosevelt: https://postimg.cc/56zfLxmf

[Alberta's Child]

I am neither.

I am a conservative nationalist who is highly disappointed whenever President Trump violates a campaign promise that I considered a key differentiator between him and the insufferable Republican @ssholes I stopped supporting years ago.

[Red6]

So tell me,

Do you want a nuclear armed Iran that is also developing long range missiles in parallel?

Iran is putting up satellites not for commercial use, but to master orbital mechanics, i.e. intercontinental ballistic missiles: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-902688

They can, today, already reach all the way to Scotland: https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/iran-us-israel-war-updates-2026/card/iran-targeted-diego-garcia-base-with-ballistic-missiles-rb7MdZW1CfwRTauDYHOt

Do you deny Iran is a regional threat to us and our allies, that we have been in a low intensity conflict since 1979 and when our people were taken hostage?

As you probably support the Ukraine war and label Putin as a “mad man,” do you think maybe it is actually Iran that is not a pragmatic / logical, a measured player, driven by their Islamic Revolution and in complete disregard of even their own people?

Even with tens of thousands dead, Putin hasn’t launched a nuke, and he won’t. Even though we call him a “mad man,” he’s actually a highly educated, measured, experienced, leader and more like a chess player (predictable). If Iran has a nuke, do you really think they would hold back in using it against Israel, us or even the Euro’s if they weren’t perpetually hiding under our wing and giving us advice from the back seat (all while benefiting from it of course)?

And if you do not not want them to have these weapons, what are you going to do about it? What is your better answer?

—What Bush W. did? Failed containment policies.

—What Obama did? Failed outreach and a hand with sugar?

—What Biden did? Nothing.

Trump has a clear mission and end state: no nuclear weapons for Iran and there is no scope creep (focused). No grand ideas of nation building...

He is starting slow and small and ramping up over time (bombing end of 2025 was the opening scene).

He is trying to execute this war in a way that minimizes risk to our military personnel.

He is trying his best to negotiate an end to this, to the point where some are accusing him of making to many concessions (going to far), offering Iran an end to sanctions, unfreezing of assets, throttling Israel in Gaza and Lebanon.

What is your genius solution that is better?

Frankly, even with 20-20 hindsight, I cannot see where Trump could have done things better.

—

For our MSM, Trump failed and was wrong on everything starting January 21, 2025.

[1Old Pro]

LA Times, reliably printing pro democrat anti-American crap.

[Ultra Sonic 007]

Do you want a nuclear armed Iran that is also developing long range missiles in parallel?

Unless we're in a declared state of war, why should we care about the military capabilities of a foreign country? We have lots of geopolitical opponents who have much greater military capabilities than Iran...and some allies with ideologies that some might describe to be just as ideologically zealous as the Iranian government's.

Do you deny Iran is a regional threat to us

Iran and the USA are not in the same region.

and our allies,

It is not in our national interest to pick sides in ethnic/tribal/religious conflicts that predate our country's very existence. Let them fight it out amongst each other.

that we have been in a low intensity conflict since 1979 and when our people were taken hostage?

Again: we supported the Shah, whose government got deposed. We then repaid the favor by orders of magnitude in terms of bloodshed by backing Saddam after he invaded Iran in 1980. If we're supposed to always remember the hostage crisis of 1979, do you think they're going to forget the deaths of hundreds of thousands of their own countrymen?

And if you do not not want them to have these weapons, what are you going to do about it?

If you're going to keep technology that's over 80 years old out of another country's hands—technology that their neighbors in Pakistan have had for DECADES now—then your only realistic option is to occupy the country in perpetuity, because all our actions have done is certify that the only practical safeguard against sudden oblivion at America's hands is a working nuclear deterrent. See North Korea for example.

What Bush W. did?...What Obama did?...What Biden did?

How about focusing on missile defense to the utmost, tightening border controls, deporting culturally incompatible foreigners and malcontents who have no right to be here, and leaving the Middle East to its own devices?

Trump has a clear mission

Uh huh. It's so clear that he's declared victory how many times at this point?

and end state: no nuclear weapons for Iran

By what, bombing them until we run out of weapons? Depleting a stockpile that's already been hit hard by the Ukraine fiasco? The only thing that will actually guarantee "no nuclear weapons" in a country THOUSANDS OF MILES AWAY is to have boots on the ground, and that would be political suicide.

and there is no scope creep (focused).

Dude, we've already moved to re-opening the Strait of Hormuz as a mission goal, even though freight flow was not a problem before our unilateral attack on February 28th.

He is trying to execute this war in a way that minimizes risk to our military personnel.

I missed the part where we actually got a declaration of war with buy-in from the entire country. If Iran is the dire civilizational threat he proposes it to be, why didn't he sell the American people on it?

What is your genius solution that is better?

Get out of the Middle East.

Frankly, even with 20-20 hindsight, I cannot see where Trump could have done things better.

Then your imagination is severely lacking.

If I had been Trump during that security briefing with Netanyahu and Israeli intelligence—wherein they recommended and pushed for a regime change operation in Iran—I would've listened to my advisers (who quite accurately predicted that the Israelis were blowing smoke) and told Israel to pound sand and stop trying to create moral hazards to get us involved in Middle Eastern conflicts.

So, for the umpteenth time to those in the back: stop picking sides in religious/ethnic/tribal conflicts in the Middle East, and get. Out. Of. There.

LEAVE THE MIDDLE EAST.

[PsyCon]

“ Trump is making Jimmy Carter look like a geopolitical master.”

I think that comparison is more than tad overstated! Who next, Obama?

[Alberta's Child]

I didn’t even have a chance to start typing a response to Red6 before Ultra Sonic posted this magnificent treatise that perfectly reflects my position on Iran. Well done!

[Alberta's Child]

As you probably support the Ukraine war and label Putin as a “mad man,” …

I don’t know why you’d presume this. In fact, I’ve said for years that I DGAF about Russia, Ukraine, or anything else in that corner of the world.

[Red6]

This isn’t 1900.

And now we pull the Fortress America BS out of our ass.

What happens in Afghanistan impacts downtown New York today.

The head in sand argument is good sounding nonsense which YOU do not live by, 100% guaranteed.

Unless you make sure to buy gasoline only from US sources, don’t shop at Walmart or Amazon (>75% made in China), don’t own a smart phone, don’t use a computer, don’t use the Internet (Cisco backbone and mostly made in China), don’t use medication (heavily dependent on Chinese source products: https://www.scmp.com/news/us/article/3360735/senate-bill-seeks-curb-us-reliance-china-drug-industry Covid exposed how dependent we are), don’t use a car battery or anything galvanized (because of our environmental rules much is made in China), don’t use a main stream brand name toothbrush (Oral-B, Colgate... made in China).

Missile defense is but a small part of a much bigger picture. They can bring a nuke in by container ship and they never even need to bring it into port.

—15% of Americans are foreign born: https://map.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/locations/national/

—11 million people coming or leaving the US per month via air travel: https://www.bts.gov/newsroom/december-2025-us-airline-traffic-data-down-26-same-month-last-year

—25 million shipping containers entering per year: https://www.freightwaves.com/news/commentary-cargo-screening-vs-inspection

—Most of the rare earth Lanthanum, cerium, 100% of the scandium and yttrium, defense needed dysprosium are imported: https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF13171

This is not a genie you’re going to stuff back into a bottle by doing your isolationist hand wave. And frankly, fair trade is a good thing, if it’s not with people that want to chop your head off or possibly go to war with you in 10 years.

Even though you can build a bottle rocket, and can bring up a schematic design of a nuke and conceptually understand how it works, actually building these things is a bit more complex. I can hand you a simple IC. But try building that $1 IC by yourself.

Our nuclear arsenal costs us about $95 billion (((per year))): https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF13171

One warhead like a W78 in today’s money is about $630 million to produce.

They require continual maintenance. Things like Tritium have a 7 year half life...

People think you build these things and that’s it. Not the case. Pantex in Texas is a busy place: https://pantex.energy.gov/

Just trying to get to weapons grade uranium is an extremely difficult task (the isotopes have nearly the same mass) requiring specialized equipment: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/oU0Z8_ufyNI (very simple explanation but very hard to do)

You over simplify things and are outside the scope of what you and those talking like you would actually want if you were confronted with the consequences: high prices, many products disappearing... And building a nuke or an ICBM that is accurate and reliable, isn’t a simple task either, even today.

[Ultra Sonic 007]

In other words, the foreign policy status quo—America, Hegemon of the World™—remains your status quo, even though we've long lost the ability to afford it.

And meanwhile, domestic Americans continue to be supplanted at home, and our society continues to erode in all the ways that matter.

Unless you make sure to buy gasoline only from US sources, don’t shop at Walmart or Amazon (>75% made in China), don’t own a smart phone, don’t use a computer, don’t use the Internet (Cisco backbone and mostly made in China), don’t use medication (heavily dependent on Chinese source products: https://www.scmp.com/news/us/article/3360735/senate-bill-seeks-curb-us-reliance-china-drug-industry Covid exposed how dependent we are), don’t use a car battery or anything galvanized (because of our environmental rules much is made in China), don’t use a main stream brand name toothbrush (Oral-B, Colgate... made in China).

Moving the goalposts. The topic is about Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, not China. Likewise your attempt at trying to change the discussion to a broader one about global economic trade and the supply chain. (Likewise with the "Fortress America" crack, as though I said at any point we needed to withdraw from the entire world.)

—15% of Americans are foreign born: https://map.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/locations/national/

And that is a significant problem that requires more focus from the Trump Admin than piddling away our political capital in yet another Middle East boondoggle.

This is not a genie you’re going to stuff back into a bottle by doing your isolationist hand wave.

You call it the "isolationist hand wave" as a form of ad hominem, when it's simply a plea to implement a form of foreign policy that not only hasn't been tried in the modern era, but what Trump was specifically elected to accomplish.

What happens in Afghanistan impacts downtown New York today.

Gee, I wonder why:

Stuff like the above has a far great impact on the social and cultural continuity of America than our beef with Iran.

And for you to act as though reversing it is doomed regardless?

Then you might as well say that the country as we know it is about as good as dead anyway.

[Red6]

Regards Ukraine-

At least you're consistent, that's cool.

Regards Iran-

I do not believe Iran is a situation that can be ignored.

In fact, and I admit my opinion is heavily influenced by personal experience and bias, I think we ignored Iran far to long.

Probable sources of bias:

—My father (USAF) was on Rhein Main when they asked for volunteers to sort out body pieces in 1983 after the Beirut barracks (no DNA back then).

—I was in Iraq (USA) and had to deal with folks like the Mahdi Army, which was getting direct help from Iran: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahdi_Army I dealt with these guys in Najaf, Karbala (near the shrine), Baghdad (Sadr City), Kufa and Diwaniyah.

I get that you have to move on and accept that people you literally fought against may sit at the table with you. That's not a strange or new concept to me.

But Iran has never changed course / direction. They are still on a war path against us:

“Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's goal to remove U.S. influence from the Middle East began with the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which ousted the pro-Western Shah. To achieve this, Khomeini and his successors established the “Axis of Resistance,” a network of heavily armed proxy groups—including Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis—to counter U.S. and Israeli interests.” https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/23/history-of-us-iran-relations-from-the-1953-regime-change-to-trump-strikes

NOTHING HAS CHANGED.

You are advocating “disengaging” from a strategic theater (oil and gas) where one of two things can happen: We will dominate the region, the Petrodollar remains. Through controlling these essential resources oil and gas which keep the world moving, we are in very good/powerful position. The dollar is the worlds reserve currency largely because of oil, not because of Apple, Hollywood, or Amazon... Much of our ability to make endless debt (~22% beyond what it would be) is because others are paying on it!

Alternately, long term China comes in and takes over if we back out. Iran will not run the Middle East - that dream ain't gonna happen. Russia no longer has the strength and presence. They are history and they simply don't want us stomping all over their backyard like we have been. Europe will NOT fill this void either. They are willing to pay for wars, but not bleed. Running the Middle East carries a large blood toll (Just Iraq 2003 - 2011): https://dcas.dmdc.osd.mil/dcas/app/conflictCasualties/oif/byCategory

Iran will NOT be the hegemon like they hope to be, the question is just if it is us or China that runs the place.

No, China is not building a huge navy and shitting new carriers faster than you can snap your fingers because they think they look cool in parades.

https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/INTERACTIVE-US-Military-presence-in-the-Middle-East-June-2026-1772272730.png?resize=770%2C513&quality=80 We try to downplay our presence but we are all over that place. We have more than that, a lot more at dual use civilian facilities that host our military activities (several in Israel, in Jordan...), Ben Gurion Airport for example. We have a presence on foreign (host nation) military installations (not our base), our intel activities, contracted military (we have made very heavy use of mercenaries post 9-11)...

We have an entire shadow army that goes unnoticed: Constellis and Dyna Corps that I know of.

This is JUST Constellis (but they are the big guy in that world), and it's JUST what they get from the US Army (10.3 billion) https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/constellis-awarded-global-protective-services-matoc-contract-from-us-army-contracting-command-302493222.html We spend more on our mercenary activities than the entire defense budget of many European nations, and this goes totally under the radar! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_in_Europe_by_military_expenditures I am not slandering these guys. They are needed. They fill a critical role in the “grey zone.” My point is that our presence and level of involvement is far greater than people realize.