Good morning. After he ordered the attacks on Iranian nuclear sites that constituted the US’s entry into Israel’s war against Iran, Donald Trump insisted that he wanted peace “quickly”, and that the alternative would be “tragedy for Iran” and “far greater” attacks in future. His vice-president, JD Vance, said that the US was “not at war with Iran” and that “we do not want to protract this”. But in Tehran, with Trump now also talking of regime change, the conclusion appears to be that there is no choice but to respond.
Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said that “The Americans must receive a response to their aggression”. And foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said that the US strikes will have “everlasting consequences”. While there is little doubt that Iran’s military capacities have been severely degraded since Israel’s attacks on 13 June, the country retains immediate options – and may now be more set on a path to nuclear weapons than it was before this began.
