Are We Going to War With Iran or Not?
The White House shouldn’t keep us all guessing.
John Bolton and Mike Pompeo, two of the people sending mixed signals on Iran.
Photographer: NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images
America either is or is not sliding toward war with Iran, depending on the time of day, prevailing winds and relative hangriness of whoever happens to be making the War Decisions at the moment.
For example, President Donald Trump today ominously warned we would soon “find out” if the U.S. will strike Iran for shooting down an American drone, ratcheting up already high tensions between the two nations. Soon after, though, he also seemed to dismiss the incident as an understandable goof by “a general or somebody”. This confusion is of a piece with Trump’s whole approach to Iran, in which Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, Trump himself and others keep jumping on and off stage to deliver mixed messages about the administration’s goals, Bloomberg’s editorial board writes. The upcoming G-20 meeting is a perfect opportunity for Trump to lay out clearly what he wants from Tehran and, presumably, that he does not want war.