The events of the past week will go down in history. After stating on 19 June that he would make a decision on whether to militarily intervene in the Israel-Iran conflict within two weeks (MEES, 20 June), US President Donald Trump oversaw an audacious bombing of three Iranian nuclear facilities on 22 June. Barely had the dust settled on Iran’s choreographed 23 June attack on the US Al Udeid airbase in Qatar in response when Mr Trump broadcast to the world on 24 June that a ceasefire had been reached.
President Trump’s brinksmanship does appear to have succeeded in drawing the current conflict to a close. Even prominent members of Mr Trump’s support base had publicly criticized the prospect of direct US intervention in the conflict, but without the US strikes the conflict between Iran and Israel would in all likelihood still have been raging. (CONTINUED - 1124 WORDS)
