Trump’s Iran war now comes down to one brutal question: What comes next?

In the first weeks of America’s confrontation with the Islamic Republic of Iran, U.S. and allied airpower imposed real costs on Tehran. That tactical success was welcome. But as I wrote previously, "Round one of the Iran fight went to the U.S. military." What was not resolved — and what now shapes everything — is the strategic outcome.

The United States faces a fundamental fork in the road. One path leads toward kinetic escalation, risking broader regional and global catastrophe. The other leads toward a calibrated off-ramp.