The lead-up to the Iran war seemed so abrupt that it’s easy to forget that there was a brief stab at diplomacy led by President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff. In February, some experts even believed that the United States and the Islamic Republic had the makings of a decent deal — albeit one that would have been remarkably similar to the agreement negotiated by the Obama administration in 2015 and torn up by Trump during his first term. But the negotiations fell apart, and the U.S. and Israel began bombing Iran two days later.
While the right had long had its sights set on war with Iran, the president’s decision was surprising to some observers. Many had assumed Trump would focus his grand ambitions on the Western Hemisphere, especially considering his incursion into Venezuela and strikes against boats in the Caribbean, as well as his threats to annex Greenland, Panama and Canada, which he had taken to calling the 51st state.
