Policymakers and intelligence agencies are still debating the extent of damage to Iran’s nuclear capabilities from Israeli and U.S. strikes this month.

The most optimistic assessment came from President Trump himself, who claimed that “bunker busting bombs” had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities. Democratic members of Congress, media critics of the president, and even some U.S. intelligence agencies suggest Trump’s glowing account is more self-serving hyperbole and that the strikes set back Iran’s nuclear program by “only a few months.” Israel’s assessment, perhaps not surprisingly, is much closer to Trump’s, saying the attacks cost Iran several years of work on nuclear weapons development.

What is indisputable, however, are the geopolitical ramifications of the U.S. strikes, which crossed several strategic Rubicons.

What once seemed almost inconceivable — that Trump would risk being “dragged into another Mideast war,” let alone a direct conflict with Iran through a massive use of U.S. force — has happened. Additional strikes are now imaginable if Iran seeks to rebuild what it has lost from Israeli and U.S. attacks.

The fact that Iran has active strategic relations with Russia, China and North Korea, the three nuclear members of the new anti-U.S., anti -Western axis of evil, and was still attacked on its core strategic imperative is also a break from traditional U.S. restraint. It indicates that the Trump administration will no longer shy away from frontally challenging members of the aggressive........

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