Die Sackgasse von Trumps „perfektem“ Krieg

President Trump has declared victory over Iran multiple times since March, and has said the war is “perfect.” “Yet Trump’s perfect war seems to have a few wee flaws, including the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and, in the past few days, the partial closure of passage through the Red Sea as well,” Times Opinion columnist Nicholas Kristof writes.

Nicholas continues:

>So Trump is escalating attacks in what looks like a doubling down on a failed strategy. But the problem now is not Trump’s terrible miscalculation in starting the war on Feb. 28 in ways that weakened America, depleted munition supplies, reduced our capacity to deter China in Asia and strengthened Iranian hard-liners. Rather, the issue at the moment is the way he is disastrously escalating the war.

Trump has lately been striking sites across Iran each day, and he warned that the United States would hit a power plant or bridge for each ship that Iran struck. Putting aside the question of war crimes, there’s also the problem that Iran responds in kind.

“Iran still retains multiple escalation options,” noted Danny Citrinowicz, a retired Israel Defense Intelligence expert on Iran. Citrinowicz noted that Iran could attack Persian Gulf states, cut undersea cables or harness the Houthis in Yemen to attack shipping in the Red Sea.

Read the full piece [here, for free,](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/25/opinion/trump-iran-saudi-arabia-war-nuclear-deal.html?unlocked_article_code=1.0VA.52×4.tYr8EkaWaji-&smid=re-nytopinion) even without a Times subscription.