Iran’s new calculus: Strike first, talk later

An increasingly emboldened Tehran has put President Donald Trump in a bind.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Jul 30, 2026

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WASHINGTON — The war that President Donald Trump initially said would last a matter of weeks is again escalating as it enters its sixth month and an increasingly assertive Iran demonstrates a willingness to strike first. 

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned Thursday that “the aggressor will be punished,” according to a statement published by state-run media, after Iran claimed drone and missile attacks targeting US bases in Jordan and Kuwait. 

On Wednesday night Eastern time, the US military launched a wave of airstrikes against IRGC targets in southern Iran, including command centers and missile sites, in retaliation for a thwarted Iranian ballistic missile attack in Jordan a day earlier. 

The tit-for-tat has upended an informal truce that took effect Friday when both sides halted their nearly two-week run of attacks and counterattacks. By........

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