Trump’s Mixed Messages About Iran

Editor’s Note: Panelists on Washington Week With The Atlantic joined to discuss growing opposition to President Trump’s attacks on Iran and what winning a war with unclear objectives could like.

President Trump continues to offer different answers to what victory in Iran may look like. Panelists on Washington Week With The Atlantic joined last night to discuss this, and more.

“In a tactical sense, there’s no question that overwhelming military power is brought to bear and Iran is being degraded,” David Ignatius, a foreign-affairs columnist at The Washington Post, said last night. But “the more I watch this process of a weak enemy being pounded and pounded, I’m reminded of the Gaza war.” After two years of fighting, “Hamas still controls most of the Palestinians in Gaza,” Ignatius argued. “Even with all that power, Israel wasn’t able to win—and I think that’s what we’re all worrying about.”

Joining the editor in chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, to discuss this and more: Peter Baker, the chief White House correspondent at The New York Times; Susan Glasser, a staff writer at The New Yorker; Ignatius; and Missy Ryan, a staff writer at The Atlantic.

Watch the full episode here.