• The U.S. hopes Iran will fold after a bunker-busting bombing. But there’s no guarantee.
• Trump’s debate pitted his promise to avoid “endless wars” with the prospect of a legacy-making achivement.

The highest hope of President Donald Trump‘s bombing of Iran: A rogue nuclear program that had defied a half-dozen of his predecessors has finally been destroyed.

Just four years after the Afghanistan withdrawal, the U.S. finds itself in another volatile conflict—this time with Iran. On June 21, former President Trump announced “Operation Midnight Hammer,” revealing B-2 bombers had struck three key Iranian nuclear sites. Trump declared the mission aimed to end Iran’s nuclear threat and force peace. Flanked by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, he warned of more strikes if needed. The move exposed a deep tension in Trump’s philosophy—his aversion to “forever wars” versus his preference for swift, forceful solutions when diplomacy stalls. The MAGA base is divided.