Trump pausing Iran attacks shows US military power is not enough on its own

Two weeks into the campaign, thirteen nights of US-led bombing have reportedly killed about three thousand five hundred Iranians and caused between one hundred fifty and two hundred seventy billion dollars in damage, yet Tehran hasn't capitulated. The Guardian reports that Trump has opted to pause the strikes rather than escalate further, a move the paper frames as tacit acknowledgment that Washington can't force its demands through airpower alone. Achieving those goals outright would require a ground war, and that's an option the US has shown no appetite for pursuing.

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