Two other Americans have given their lives in the service of their country. They died inside attack on Iran at the Jordanian air base; several American soldiers were wounded and one is missing. The American people have a right to know why they died, and how many of their sons and daughters President Trump is willing to risk in this war of choice.
The president, so far, has given his usual stock answers. It’s “a very sad thing,” he said in a phone call Saturday afternoon to the right-wing channel National News. He added: “We hate to see that happen. It’s in the service of our country.” But every military death is in the service of the nation. It is true by definition that all 16 Americans who have lost their lives so far in this conflict did so because they volunteered to wear the uniform of the United States military and endure great risk on behalf of their fellow citizens. Military service, even in peacetime, is inherently dangerous.
But these Americans are dead because they were sent to war—and for months Trump has not offered a detailed explanation of why his administration is ordering American soldiers to put their lives on the line. Or, more accurately, he has been released several logics at various times during the last 20 weeks of the war.
This time, according to NewsNation, Trump said that his main goal in this war is to “never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.” But Iran does not have a nuclear weapon and was not even close to getting one when Trump started this crisis. Trump has claimed that Tehran was “two weeks” from building the bomb, a claim that no serious analyst—and no intelligence agency, American or anywhere else—has supported.
The night the war began, however, the White House offered recorded words and a president where Trump seemed to have one main goal of the war: regime change. He told the Iranian people that “the hour of your freedom is at hand,” and that when the American campaign was over, they should “take over” their government. “It will be yours to take,” he said, but as and some of his other declarationshe has since recanted, arguing that he never had any intention of toppling the Iranian regime—or, in some cases, claim that he really he did overthrowing the regime because he killed many Iranian leaders (which is obviously not the same as “regime change”).
Trump had hoped to end the Iranian regime. Encouraged by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the authoritarian regime will collapse under US attack—a claim that CIA Director John Ratcliffe saw as “ridiculous” and Secretary of State Marco Rubio called “bullshit,” according to New York Times-Trump sent US forces in the wrong direction for what he later called “Gut instinct.” (Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, for his part, cheered the idea of an attack.)
The flowers of Iran are among the worst oppressors in the world, and Trump could make a case for removing the planet from their rule over a nation of more than 90 million people. But the president has not seen fit, in all this time, to give a single speech to the American people or to Congress about why he brought the United States into war, the world economy into chaos, and young Americans into danger.
Meanwhile, the goals of the war have been disrupted and escalated, with the United States now putting out fires of its own making. Regime change failed, and Iran quickly did what almost everyone except Trump and Hegseth knew it would do: It choked the Strait of Hormuz and attacked America’s friends in the Gulf. The goals of the United States recently focused on depriving Iran of its military capabilities and opening up the strait. These efforts have also failed.
Iran clearly maintains a stockpile of missiles and drones, and Trump himself has given up on eliminating the missile threat: “I mean, they have to have some,” he said. he said quipped when asked about Iran’s missiles last month, “because other people have them.” (One of those missiles apparently killed two American servicemen in Jordan.) Meanwhile, the Iranians have demonstrated, time and time again, that the channel is only open when they say it is, a command of the waterway they did not enjoy before Trump started the war. The president, it seems, somehow believes that he can put all this toothpaste down the drain with more use of military force.
Now two more Americans are dead, and one is missing. But Trump seems intent on putting more lives at risk. He has again, according to others reportasked his advisers about seizing Iranian land, sparking speculation that the United States was preparing its forces for ground operations. If Trump had issued those orders, more Americans would have died.
If US military forces are ordered to occupy Iranian territory, they can do so. Such an operation could mean great losses; however, the Americans, if they commit enough troops, can occupy Kharg Island and land along the Iranian coast. But again, to what end? What does “win” look like this time? Even if US forces invade Iran and claim control of the Strait of Hormuz, it will be a short-term operational success that will leave US troops holding land in an enemy nation. (And no matter what happens, the recovery of the global economy will depend on the world’s shipping and insurance companies, whose owners may not be reassured by Trump’s declarations or Hegseth’s fading after a major US move in the ocean.)
But Trump may have no such plans, once again betting—and American lives—that pushing Iran and making the rubble collapse will get him what he wants. And what he seems to want is a peaceful Iran that accepts peace with the United States, opens the sea, stops attacking other countries in the region, and vows not to develop nuclear weapons. Military strikes to achieve these goals have so far been unsuccessful, and Trump has not offered an explanation as to why he believes new strikes will be carried out this time. Worse, the Iranians may have lost their supreme leader (and will be replaced by one of his sons), but the regime now appears to be stronger politically and strategically than it was on the first night of the war.
Trump doesn’t seem to understand that Iran has a higher tolerance for pain than America. The two more deaths are not, as Trump called them, “very sad.” The president led the United States in a major gun battle. American service people are killed and wounded. Trump just yesterday demanded national airtime to be loud about the election conspiracy theories. Before one more American soldier is killed, he should get back on the airwaves—and stand before Congress—to explain what Iran is doing and how many more lives it is willing to risk.
