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Donald Trump has launched combat operations in Iran “without congressional approval, with little appetite among his base for another U.S. regime-change operation in the Middle East, and with several allies in the region having discouraged new strikes,” Nancy A. Youssef and Jonathan Lemire report. “That leaves Trump in a position to claim personal credit for any successful parts of the mission,” they continue, “but also singularly associated with whatever happens next … He will receive the accolades for whatever goes well, but will also be saddled with the many possible downsides.” Trump said Iran was developing missiles that could reach the U.S. “even though intelligence assessments within his administration have not reached that same conclusion,” Youssef and Lemire write. “He said Iran posed an imminent threat, but had also said last June that U.S. and Israeli forces crippled Iran’s nuclear-development program. Trump did not say when or what would lead the U.S. to stop its campaign.” “But the most startling-–and unexpected-–declaration was his ambition to oust the Iranian government,” Youssef and Lemire write. “Trump offered immunity to members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the armed services, and the police if they laid down their arms … Yet he didn’t say whom any takers should surrender to, given that the operation has not involved any ground forces. And he put the onus of revolution onto Iranians themselves, saying the strikes were designed to create the people’s best chance for new leaders for generations.” “During his presidential campaigns, Trump reassured his supporters there would be no more ‘forever wars,’ and that the U.S. wouldn’t be bogged down in the Middle East,” they continue. “But with the launch of air strikes this morning, the U.S. is once again on the front lines of conflict there, with the desire to overthrow a nation’s government. How long war lasts—and where it leads Iran—is not up to just Trump or Israel. The fate of a war Trump sees as shaping his legacy is now in the hands of both the regime and the people inside Iran.” 📸: Matteo Giuseppe Pani / The Atlantic*