Jennifer Kavanagh is a senior fellow and director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, a foreign policy think tank based in Washington.
“Now is the time for peace,” U.S. President Donald Trump declared after authorizing U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities at Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan. Unfortunately, what happens next is something even he cannot predict or control. Instead, by opting to use military force against Iran, Trump has sacrificed his own diplomatic leverage, made Americans less safe, and put his second-term foreign policy priorities — including peace in Ukraine and a renewed U.S. focus on Asia — at risk.
