Trump's Iran pact seen as a strategic defeat in Washington
US President Donald Trump jumbled his justification to launch the war on Iran, whose nuclear programme he claimed was already obliterated in a June 2025 attack.
At first he toyed with the idea of overthrowing the Islamic Republic by backing Kurdish fighters and Iranian protesters. He also said the US would destroy Iran’s military and end its ballistic missile programme, which he framed as a threat to the US. He insisted on Iran’s “unconditional surrender”.
Former US officials say Trump’s Memorandum of Understanding achieves none of those stated war aims and leaves the US in a weaker position to advance its stated goals at the negotiating table.
“The US deployed its power foolishly and recklessly,” Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East negotiator for Republican and Democratic Presidents, told Middle East Eye.
“We have lost, vis-a-vis Iran, a lot of power and influence. Deterrence is gone. Iran has survived the largest deployment of American air, naval and missile assets since the Second Iraq War,” he added.
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