After warning of a major escalation in U.S. attacks on Iran for days, President Donald Trump decided over the weekend to hold off on ordering a return to major combat operations. The official reason, according to his envoy to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, is to give ongoing peace talks “some space”. But leaks from administration officials suggest that concerns about U.S. munitions stockpiles are the true driver of Trump’s restraint.
Such concerns, if accurate, are justified—but not because the U.S. might soon run out of missiles to fight Iran. While America has plenty of munitions to continue the current war for months longer, it does not have the weapons to both extend its conflict in the Middle East and meet its global commitments elsewhere.
Trump must therefore make a choice. He can persist with his unnecessary war with Iran and accept that the United States will sit out any future conflict in Europe or Asia. Or he can preserve what remains of the U.S. arsenal for a future crisis that does affect American interests by making a deal, no matter how painful, with Iran. Continuing the current war, in other words, will mortgage America’s future security.
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