President Donald Trump announced Monday that he helped negotiate a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. The ceasefire comes after the two countries exchanged missile strikes for days, and the US struck three Iranian nuclear sites, prompting Iranian retaliation against a US-run base in Qatar. Shortly after the ceasefire was supposed to become active on Tuesday morning, Israel accused Iran of violating it and ordered its military to strike Tehran. President Trump expressed discontent with the Iranians and Israelis in response and commanded Israel to call off its bombing. Despite the early violation accusations, the ceasefire appears to have held since.
In recent days, there have been conflicting reports on what the US’s strikes on Iran actually destroyed, with CNN (Lean Left bias) reporting that a US intelligence assessment suggested “early findings are at odds with President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that the strikes ‘completely and totally obliterated.’” It said the strikes did not destroy the core components of the country’s nuclear program and “likely only set it back by months.” In response, several Trump administration officials and even an Iranian official have poured cold water on CNN's report.
Voices on the left opposed President Trump’s strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, calling it an ill-advised “strongman” move. Outlets on the right were in favor of the decision, praising Trump for his strategy.
The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board (Lean Right) wrote,“President Trump’s decision to strike Iran’s three most significant nuclear sites on Saturday helped rid the world of a grave nuclear threat and was a large step toward restoring U.S. deterrence. The Obamaites of the left, and lately of the right, counseled that the world had to bow to Iranian intimidation. The best we could hope for was a flimsy deal that bribed Iran with billions and left open its path to a bomb. They were wrong.”
A writer for The Guardian (Left) wrote, “Trump’s strike on Iran was another example of both his disregard for public opinion… and his contempt for Congress… The Trump who threw a birthday parade and used the military like a prop invited ridicule. The Trump who deploys troops to the streets of Los Angeles and drops bombs on Iran is altogether more dangerous. Exit the showman. Enter the strongman.”
The American Conservative (Right) posted an opinion arguing, “What the U.S. and Israel have already done in Iran are the things we have done best in our post-Cold War military interventions. It is clear that the GOP’s wildest hawks have still learned little about why regime change and nation-building have so often failed or why they are so difficult to avoid when pursuing anything but brief, well-defined military missions. Once we have decided who the bad guy is, there is little room for further questions.”
A writer for Vox (Left) said, “President Donald Trump has framed his strikes on Iran as a costless triumph. The president is not asking Americans to accept sacrifices in service of destroying the Iranian nuclear program — only to applaud his already successful destruction of it… But such rosy outcomes are far from certain. And if things do not transpire as Trump hopes, his war could impose significant costs on the American people — in terms of money, blood, and nuclear security.”
