The commitment trap: How Israel, Iran and the US risk becoming prisoners to policies

Israel and Iran have long been locked in a path toward conflict.
Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Andrew Latham, Macalester College

The latest escalation in the Middle East is in many ways the inevitable culmination of a long-simmering rivalry. Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons capability and Israel’s determination to stop that from happening meant that such an outcome was always in the cards.

But it also provides an example of what...