Although his address to the nation was peppered with references to Iran’s appalling behaviour on the global stage, the president’s tone made it clear that he wants to de-escalate this dangerous situation.
He made no new military threats towards Iran and said the US was open, one day, to a peaceful Tehran if it changed its ways.
Iran handed the president this opportunity to credibly act with restraint by the ineffectual nature of its missile attacks on two bases in Iraq housing American troops.
There is a growing belief in the Pentagon that the Iranian attack, which produced zero US or Iraqi casualties, was carefully calculated to cause minimal damage.
This allowed the Iranian regime to claim a propaganda victory at home by saying the attack had avenged the US assassination of its most senior military leader General Qassem Soleimani.
But by killing no Americans, Iran also gave Trump the political option of not carrying out his earlier threats to “quickly and fully” strike back at Iran if it launched an attack.
Given Trump’s earlier and sweeping threats to hit up to 52 targets in Iran in response to any attack, he would have had little political choice but to escalate the situation had Americans been killed.
This new status quo may not continue for long. Iran may still be planning a new and far more deadly attack on Americans and Trump is highly unpredictable in his actions towards Iran, as the surprise assassination of Gen Soleimani proved.
But if there are no further attacks by either side, then Trump has got off very lightly for his high-risk decision to kill Soleimani whose death will undercut Iran’s ability to export terror to the world.
The situation is still fluid and full of risk for both countries but Trump’s restraint in the face of Iran’s attacks is a sensible response for now. Trump was elected on a promise to withdraw US troops from endless Middle East wars, not start a new one. And Iran surely now understands that any serious loss of American lives will trigger a US response which would devastate much of its military and nuclear facilities.
It’s been a white-knuckle ride for both countries and for the world over the past week but, for now at least, common sense has prevailed.
Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia
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