Twelve days of missiles, drones, and air strikes left Iranian cities scarred, Israeli towns shaken and the entire region teetering on the edge of a far wider war.

It took direct US intervention to stop the fighting again. President Trump’s ceasefire announcement on June 24 brought a fragile pause, but not before Israel had struck deep into Iran and Tehran had responded with missiles that landed near Beersheba.

What came next surprised even longtime Trump watchers. Standing on the White House lawn, he called Israel out. “I’ve got to get Israel to calm down”, he said. “I don’t like the fact that Israel went out this morning at all.” The language was unusually direct. And when Israeli jets took off for another strike, Trump issued an all-caps warning on Truth Social telling them to abort. By his account, they did.

For decades, Washington has tiptoed around Israeli aggression, treating it as a side-effect of Middle Eastern politics rather than a central problem. But the events of this war have forced a reckoning. Iran, crippled by sanctions, battling unrest at home, was willing to stand down once Israel stopped bombing. It was Israel that kept pushing, even after claiming victory. The aggression served no strategic value to the US. It undermined a ceasefire brokered in good faith, put US allies in the........

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