When will the Iran war end? The US can't even decide when it began | Lawrence Douglas

"Within hours of secretary of state Marco Rubio's assurance that the operation is over last week, Donald Trump used social media to declare that it most decidedly was not. Should Iran fail to accept the US peace plan, Trump warned that the bombing would resume and at a much higher level and intensity than it was before. No bombs have since fallen, but the standoff remains."

"That is the upshot of the state department's document of 21 April, the administration's first full effort to supply a legal justification for Operation Epic Fury. The document was notably tardy, coming nearly two months after the bombing campaign began. More remarkable still is how completely it rejects the justification offered by the president on 28 February in his prerecorded television address announcing the start of the assault."

"Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime. Not so, the state department now insists. Presumably recognizing that the imminent threat argument failed the straight-face test, the state department's legal assessment simply declares: The United States does not rely on a theory of imminence to justify its actions in this case. In its stead, the document insists that Epic Fury is simply the continuation of an armed conflict with Iran that has been ongoing for years."

"When did this war begin? Here the state department's legal document turns cagey. At points, it suggests that hostilities started way back during the Iranian revolution of 1979 with the sacking of the US embassy and the taking of US hostages. At others, it points to 2019, when Iran-backed militias f"

Operation Epic Fury’s end remains uncertain despite assurances that the operation was over. The standoff continues even though no further bombs have fallen. A state department legal document dated 21 April provides the administration’s first full legal justification for the bombing campaign, which began nearly two months earlier. The document conflicts with the president’s 28 February claim that the objective was to eliminate imminent threats from the Iranian regime. Instead, it states the United States does not rely on a theory of imminence. It characterizes the assault as a continuation of an armed conflict with Iran ongoing for years, but it does not clearly identify when that conflict began, offering different possible starting points including 1979 and 2019.

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