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Trump Buys Himself Time

June 20, 2025 · 12:43 am ET · Leave a Comment

“President Trump’s sudden announcement that he could take up to two weeks to decide whether to plunge the United States into the heart of the Israel-Iran conflict is being advertised by the White House as giving diplomacy one more chance to work,” the New York Times reports.

“But it also opens a host of new military and covert options.”

“Assuming he makes full use of it, Mr. Trump will now have time to determine whether six days of relentless bombing and killing by Israeli forces — which has taken out one of Iran’s two biggest uranium enrichment centers, much of its missile fleet and its most senior officers and nuclear scientists — has changed minds in Tehran.”

Stephen Collinson: Why Trump’s two-week pause on Iran makes sense — and why it may not work.

Foreign Affairs

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Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.

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