Trump and the Great Wait for Israelis and Iranians
There is the firebrand isolationist of the 2016 presidential campaign, who as president set the stage for the American withdrawal from Afghanistan and, in 2019, called off an airstrike on Iran with only 10 minutes to go.
And there is the president who, in early 2020, authorized a drone strike to kill Iran's top security and intelligence commander.
This week, Trump gave himself up to two weeks to decide which approach he will take toward the war that Israel began last week by attacking Iran. The extra time could allow him to expand his arsenal of options and calibrate the thorny politics of any decision. But it will also come with real consequences for Israelis and Iranians.
Today, I called my colleague Patrick Kingsley, The Times's bureau chief in Jerusalem. He explained how Trump's delay is shaping calculations on both sides — and how, for civilians, two weeks could feel like a very long time indeed.
Can you describe life for Israeli and Iranian civilians in this moment?
There's a mood of terror and fear in both countries as the airstrikes come down. In Israel, civilians are rushing, sometimes several times a day, into bomb shelters to avoid getting hit by Iranian missiles that have regularly been fired into civilian areas. At least two dozen Israelis have been killed. In Iran, where there are far fewer shelters, the death toll is higher than 200, which includes many civilians. Following Israeli evacuation orders, often issued at very short notice, huge numbers of Iranian civilians have been forced to flee Tehran — a city of roughly 10 million. That has led to massive traffic jams and gas shortages, all against the backdrop of prolonged internet blackouts.
We don't know if an American strike would end the suffering. But two weeks of diplomacy doesn't immediately end it, either. It locks us in for up to two weeks of continued fighting between Israel and Iran, killing civilians in both countries.
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