Op-ed in The New York Times: A U.S. war with Iran would be a catastrophe

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
June 12, 2025
Contact: press@defensepriorities.org

WASHINGTON, DC—Today, The New York Times published an opinion editorial by Rosemary Kelanic, Director, Middle East Program, Defense Priorities.

In this piece, Kelanic argues for President Trump to keep the U.S. out of the Israel-Iran war and reduce U.S. exposure to the fallout.

“A war with Iran would be a catastrophe, the culminating failure of decades of regional overreach by the United States and exactly the sort of policy that Mr. Trump has long railed against. The United States would gain nothing from fighting a weak country halfway around the globe that causes problems in its region but does not pose a critical security threat to us. And the United States would lose much: most tragically, the lives of U.S. service members, along with any chance of escaping our tortured past in the region.

Americans of all political stripes oppose war with Iran, presumably because they understand the two big lessons from U.S. experiences fighting in the Middle East over the past 25 years. Not only do preventive wars not work; they also have unintended consequences with lasting impact on America’s national security.

The misguided 2003 invasion of Iraq was also a war to forestall nuclear proliferation. Disaster ensued, and not just because Saddam Hussein didn’t have weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. invasion triggered chaos and civil war in Iraq and tipped the regional balance of power toward Iran by allowing it to establish new proxy militias in the country. It also led to the eventual rise of ISIS.

There is no reason to think that a war with Iran would go any more smoothly—and it could turn out considerably worse.

Read the entire op-ed in The New York Times.

See here for more analysis on the Israel-Iran conflict.