Analysis: One mistake Trump hasn’t made on Iran | CNN Politics

Unless Donald Trump finds a way out of his box on Iran, history may come to regard his choice to wage war as a presidency-defining error. But he has so far avoided one potential dire mistake: massively escalating the conflict past his capacity to control it. History shows that presidents who intensify wars in pursuit of a way out, or to protect their own prestige or America’s reputation, descend a slippery slope. In Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, they often did so reluctantly, in wars that could no longer be won. Not for the first time, Trump finds himself at a three-way intersection in a war now being driven by Iran’s refusal to surrender or seriously negotiate. Each question serves up unpalatable political and strategic answers, which explains why he’s still stuck in a war he can’t afford to win and can’t afford to lose. It’s a measure of the US predicament that the Pentagon sent a request to a group of military analysts for new ideas on how to punish Iran, according to an exclusive CNN report. Trump’s frustration radiated from his Truth Social account Monday after Iran rebuffed his latest gambit. He’d suspended promised devastating strikes at the weekend after sa