US President Trump is deciding whether a resumption of strikes in Iran will finally deliver the victory he has already claimed he’s achieved, The Atlantic reports.
He also has two other questions to answer closer to home: Who gets the blame for a war his advisers assured him would end well before the midterms? And can he trust those same advisers when they tell him that the new plan will succeed where previous plans have failed?
For weeks, Trump has been contemplating a renewal of hostilities aimed at forcing Iran to negotiate, and advisers told us that a new round of attacks could come soon after Tuesday’s midterms. Trump has also been questioning allies about the job performances of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, two outside advisers close to Trump told us. Hegseth and Caine have been two of Trump’s key counselors on the war. In its earliest stages, they were also among the most publicly optimistic about its prospects—although they haven’t held a press conference since May. Trump often solicits opinions from a kitchen Cabinet of friends outside his administration before making any personnel moves.
Hegseth is not a popular figure in much of the White House. Some close to Trump suggested to us that the defense secretary has not been honest about the state of the war, which he consistently paints in rosy terms to keep Trump happy. “Hegseth is good at telling the president what he wants to hear,” said one of the outside advisers. Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesperson, told us in a statement that “Secretary Hegseth always provides the President and White House senior leaders the full operational picture,” calling any suggestion otherwise “dead wrong.”
