Is the US still at war with Iran? If the war is over, who won and who controls the Strait of Hormuz now? The panelists are on Washington Week With The Atlantic joined last night to discuss these questions and whether Trump has a strategy to get out of the fight he started.
As the conflict enters its third month, Washington and Tehran are at loggerheads over the terms that will enable peace talks to begin. With President Trump increasing pressure on Iran to accept his terms, the long-running conflict in the Strait of Hormuz continues to threaten the world economy.
US forces struck Iranian positions on Thursday after two US destroyers were attacked in the strait, but Trump called the response a “love pipe” and said the exchange of fire did not represent a break in the ceasefire. The war remains in a state of “suspended animation,” said Jeffrey Goldberg, managing director and editor-in-chief of the Atlantic, he said last night.
At the same time, Trump has grown “tired” of the war, an outside adviser he told it of Atlantic staff writer Jonathan Lemire. But Iran appears comfortable with prolonging the conflict, possibly for many more months, Lemire reported. He noted last night that Iran has more control over the sea now than it did at the start of the conflict.
Joining Goldberg to discuss this and more: Peter Baker, senior White House correspondent at New York Times; Lemire; Amna Nawaz, co-presenter at PBS News Hour; and Vivian Salama, staff writer at Atlantic.
Watch the full episode here.
