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Trump, Iran and the Specter of Iraq: ‘We Bought All the Happy Talk’

President Trump is pondering swift military action in Iran. There were similar expectations that the war in Iraq would be quick and triumphant.

© Doug Mills/The New York Times

President George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser, in the Oval Office in March 2003.

Israel’s Strike on Iran Comes at a Moment of Weakness for Iran’s Proxies

Iran’s “Axis of Resistance,” the network of militias it has fostered in the Middle East to help it fight Israel, has become seriously degraded, experts say.

© Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York Times

Hezbollah supporters paid tribute to the former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah at his funeral in Beirut in February, months after he was killed in an Israeli airstrike. Hezbollah is battered after its 14-month war with Israel in Lebanon.

U.S. Was Not Involved in Israeli Strikes on Iran, Rubio Says

President Trump has said he would like to negotiate a deal with Tehran over its nuclear program but had also acknowledged that Israel might attack Iran first.

© Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times

Iranians gathered on top of a hill watching the billowing smoke in Tehran after sounds of explosions on Friday.

Israel Appears Ready to Attack Iran

Concern about a strike and the prospect of retaliation led the United States to withdraw diplomats from Iraq and authorize the voluntary departure of U.S. military family members from the Middle East.

© Khalid Mohammed/Associated Press

The U.S. Embassy complex in Baghdad in 2020. U.S. military family members have been authorized to leave the Middle East.

Israel Appears Ready to Attack Iran

Concern about a strike and the prospect of retaliation led the United States to withdraw diplomats from Iraq and authorize the voluntary departure of U.S. military family members from the Middle East.

© Khalid Mohammed/Associated Press

The U.S. Embassy complex in Baghdad in 2020. U.S. military family members have been authorized to leave the Middle East.
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