Is the US overplaying its hand in Iran?

U.S.

President Donald Trump recently justified renewed military action against Iran by saying Tehran “did not obey what they’re supposed to obey” under a memorandum of understanding intended to halt the fighting.

Whether one believes Iran violated that agreement or not, one word deserves closer examination: obey.

In international affairs, nations negotiate.

They bargain, threaten, deter, deceive and sometimes violate agreements.

But sovereign states do not “obey” another nation’s leader in the way a subordinate obeys a superior.

That distinction matters because language often reveals how leaders view both diplomacy and power.

The collapse of the memorandum has already produced predictable consequences.

American forces responded with significant airstrikes against Iranian military infrastructure.

Iran, in turn, declared itself no longer bound by the agreement and resumed attacks against American and regional targets, with two American soldiers killed during Iranian strikes in Jordan on Friday.

Each side insists the other crossed the line first.

Each military response becomes ...