The debate about U.S. and Israeli military operations has created a fury of its own. Part of that stems from the lack of sure-footedness by Trump administration leaders and the president himself about why the United States launched the operation. But the United States is acting within well-defined limits and principles of realist statecraft. One might wonder: why now? But that’s quite different from: why?
It is obvious to everyone but the most willfully deceptive partisan that the Iranian regime has been an active, aggressive foe of the United States for nearly a half century. The threat Iran poses is not theoretical. President Trump should be explicit that ending the threatening behavior of a dangerous regime is necessary, even if there is no immediate moment that demands it. When abstracted beyond Iran, the broader principle is that sovereignty is not an absolute shield when a regime’s actions have created a high probability of catastrophic harm to others beyond its borders.
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