WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 03: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a bilateral meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office of the White House on March 03, 2026 in Washington, DC. Trump and Mer... WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 03: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a bilateral meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office of the White House on March 03, 2026 in Washington, DC. Trump and Merz are expected to discuss a range of topics including the recent U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran and international tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) MORE LESS

Donald Trump’s Iran war is playing out like a Defense Department war game in which a neophyte is schooled in the stodgy and risk-averse reasons why a couple of generations of presidents and joint chiefs of staff have resisted demands to overthrow Iran’s clerical regime by force. Well, yes, we do have a super, super powerful military, the schoolers might say, and Iran is still using rusted-out jets we sold the Shah half a century ago, but here’s the thing …. and you go from there.

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