ArcaMax

It has been more than six months since President Donald Trump -- without the authorization of Congress -- declared war on Iran. It is turning into one of those forever wars that candidate Trump so vigorously denounced. Now he has enmeshed us in such a war, costing billions, lives and our credibility in the world. And he still can't get the story straight.

Trump, in announcing the attack, said its goals were to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities, its naval capabilities and missile industry and to thwart Hezbollah and Hamas. He called on Iranians to rise against the government.

Six months later, the war is a disaster. Trump will be lucky to get the same deal former President Barack Obama did, which Trump denounced as president, leaving Iran to build its nuclear arsenal further and creating the crisis that led Trump to declare war.

He implored Iranian citizens to rise against the government. And then the United States and Israel attacked. On the first day of the attack, according to Iran's Red Crescent, 24 of Iran's 32 provinces were hit, with more than 200 deaths and 700 injuries. Iranian officials reported that 120 students and 26 teachers died in a missile strike at an elementary school.

Pentagon data reports that 18 American servicemen and women have been killed and 758 wounded in the first six months of the war. According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, the death toll in Iran is at 3,636 and in Lebanon the death toll has been put at 4,300. According to news reports, 72 Israeli soldiers have been killed along with 50 civilians.

"Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today," Trump said in March. "They've been killing innocent people all over the world for 47 years and now I, as the 47th President of the United States of America, am killing them. What a great honor it is to do so!"

The Iranians attacked. The Strait of Hormuz was closed. The price of oil skyrocketed. We are, reportedly, running low on ammunition. Diplomacy is failing. And what does Trump have to say?

He can't get his story straight. He is not being honest with the American people. Later in March, he said, "I think we won. All they're doing is clogging up the Strait (of Hormuz), but from a military standpoint, they're finished. That same afternoon, he said the U.S. was considering "winding down" military efforts in Iran.

We haven't won. By April, Trump was singing a different tune. "We're gonna hit them hard over the next two to three weeks. We're gonna bring them back to the stone ages, where they belong." And this: "A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will."

It didn't. It hasn't. Things have only gotten worse.

During the 2024 campaign, Trump repeatedly promised that he would not start new "endless wars" in the Middle East. In a post in June 2024, he said the election was a choice between "peace and prosperity or war and no war." On the 100th day of the conflict, he told Kristen Welker of NBC that he had never promised during his campaign that he would not engage in new wars in the Middle East.

Trump broke his promise and then lied about making it. He has utterly failed to offer a consistent narrative about this war. His brand of arrogance, lies and ugly threats is not working -- with the Iranians, our allies and increasingly the American people.

The least we deserve is the truth.

========

To find out more about Susan Estrich and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Copyright 2026 Creators Syndicate Inc.