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Trump swept into office hoping to be a peacemaker. Five months in, a new conflict is roiling the Middle East, with no end in sight to the war in Ukraine.
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President Trump is trapped between the "America First" isolationists and others in his party who are cheering on Israel's strikes against Iran.
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Israel has launched a large-scale military attack on Iran, killing top military officials, nuclear scientists and civilians in the deadliest attack on the country in decades. Iran has launched drones at Israel in response. The unprovoked attack, which Israel described as a "preemptive strike," comes just days before scheduled nuclear talks between Iran and the United States. Iranian-born analyst Trita Parsi says the Trump administration appears to have been coordinating with Israel for "negotiating leverage" in an attempt to force Iran to "capitulate" on nuclear disarmament. Whether this gambit will succeed remains to be seen, though Parsi and Israeli journalist Gideon Levy say Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is betting it does not. Netanyahu has long indicated a willingness to wage war with Iran and likely hopes to draw the United States into a major regional conflict. "This was the project of his life," says Levy.
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