Caught between the MAGA base wing’s loud opposition to fighting Israel’s war on the one hand, and the party’s greater neocon wing’s desire to seize the opportunity opened up by Israeli command of Iranian skies on the other, Trump has split the difference. No doubt CENTCOM commander Kurilla, who is close to the Israelis, presented the president with a whole menu of options ranging from surgical strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities all the way to an all-out strategic air war aimed at destroying the Islamic regime if not the Iranian state. In choosing the least escalatory option, Trump has threaded the needle. Now what?
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