Last night, President Donald Trump announced a 'total and complete' cease-fire between Israel and Iran. Iran's nuclear program, Trump said, had been 'obliterated' and 'totally destroyed' by the U.S. strikes, and Iran's retaliation was 'very weak' and resulted in 'hardly any damage.' If the cease-fire holds, this episode would appear to mark a major foreign-policy victory for the president. But Trump may have made a crucial mistake that could bring about the very outcome that successive American presidents have sought to prevent: an Iranian nuclear weapon. The problem is that the cease-fire is not linked to a diplomatic agreement with Iran on the future of its nuclear program. Trump apparently sees no need for further negotiation, because the military strikes were, to him, an unqualified success. But as the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Sunday morning, assessing the damage to the sites will take some time. A preliminary assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency...
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