Has Trump lost his appetite for war?

▪ U.S., Iran exchange strikes

▪ Court strikes down Trump tariffs

▪ Hantavirus concerns

▪ Clarence Thomas’s milestone

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President Trump‘s latest push for a relatively narrow peace deal with Iran has both supporters and critics asking if he’s really prepared to resume major military operations.

While the U.S. launched its first strikes in Iran since the temporary ceasefire started on Thursday, the administration immediately said it was not an end to the truce. Trump called the retaliatory strikes a “love tap” in response to Iranian attacks on multiple U.S. warships transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

After surgical — and tactically successful — military operations in Iran last summer and Venezuela in January, the president had visions of regime change in Tehran when he launched joint operations with Israel more than two months ago.

Now he’s facing rising energy costs, diminished U.S. weapons stockpiles and an Iranian regime that has proven resilient to weeks of bombing and economic strangulation. 

Trump’s rhetoric continues to be that of a president ready to resume bombing. In his Truth Social post about the strikes on Thursday, he wrote, “just like we knocked them out again today, we’ll knock them out a lot harder, and a lot more violently, in the future, if they don’t get their Deal signed, FAST!”

However, Iran hawks are worried that he’s preparing to walk away without extracting key concessions.

“I have to believe the Axios report is largely fake,” conservative commentator Mark Levin said in a post on the social platform X on Wednesday, referring to a report from the outlet detailing a potential one-page memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran to end the war.

The 14-point plan, which has not yet been agreed to, would start a 30-day period of negotiations on a detailed agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, limit Iran’s nuclear program and lift U.S. sanctions, Axios reported.

“If the Axios report is close to accurate, the Iranian regime will survive, the Iranian people will face even more extensive brutality, and the Israeli government could fall in the October election. A disastrous result,” Levin said.

Levin was not alone, The Hill’s Colin Meyn reports. The reported terms of the memorandum stoked swift backlash from conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt and Mark Dubowitz, the CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, both prominent cheerleaders of the war.

Iran hawks in Congress have been notably silent on the terms, as the U.S. awaits Iran’s response to the memo.

On the other side of his party, Trump faces growing pressure to wrap up the Iran war before the political pain poses major problems for Republicans in the midterms.

Rep. Tom Barrett (R-Mich.) introduced a bill Thursday that would require the president to wind down the war by July while also limiting the scope of the ongoing military campaign. It would allow the military to attack Iran’s nuclear program, address “imminent threats” to U.S. facilities or forces, enforce a blockade of Iranian ports and ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

But it would prohibit U.S. forces from conducting “sustained” ground combat operations in Iran, occupying or seizing Iranian territory, or engaging in “nation-building.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) is leading a push to vote to authorize the use of force in Iran beyond the War Powers Act’s 60-day window, which passed last week. Murkowski may not get a vote on the resolution, but that could ultimately lead to more Republicans defecting and asserting some control over the war.

Democrats picked up one additional supporter for their war powers votes last week as Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) broke ranks to back the vote as the conflict reached the 60-day mark.

The Trump administration has argued the War Powers Act is both unconstitutional and irrelevant during the ceasefire. But there’s growing signs that he is tiring of the war, particularly as the global economy has been rocked, and U.S. consumers are facing gas well over $4 per gallon. 

The most recent instance was his announcement pausing Project Freedom, the U.S. operation to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz, on Tuesday, less than 48 hours after initiating it. He said he made the decision based on the “Great Progress” that had been made toward a peace deal with Iran and at the urging of Pakistan and other countries.

As Iran mulls the latest U.S. proposal, The Wall Street Journal reported the Trump administration is........

© The Hill