A hard truth for presidents: It's easier to get into a war than to get out of it.
Just ask Harry Truman about Korea, Lyndon Johnson about Vietnam, George W. Bush about Iraq.
And nowDonald Trumpabout Iran.
WhenTrump announcedin a social media video on Feb. 28 that the United States and Israel were striking Iran, he vowed that their overwhelming military advantage would crush the Islamic republic's navy, its missile capabilities and its nuclear potential − perhaps even overturn the government itself − in a war he suggested might last four to five weeks.
See how Middle Eastern countries are caught in the crossfire of the war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran.Bahrain
Smoke rises in the sky after blasts were heard in Manama, Bahrain, Feb. 28, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Syria Syrian children stand on the wreckage of an Iranian rocket that was reportedly intercepted by Israeli forces in the southern countryside of Quneitra, near the Golan Heights, close to the town of Ghadir al-Bustan." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Iraq A plume of smoke rises near Erbil International Airport in Erbil on March 1, 2026. Loud explosions were heard early on March 1 near Erbil airport, which hosts US-led coalition troops in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, an AFP journalist said." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Iraq Members and officers from the Iraqi Interior Ministry's Explosives Directorate inspect the fuel tank of a rocket that landed in a rural village in the Siyahi area near the city of Hilla in the central Babil province on March 1, 2026. Iraq, which has recently regained a sense of stability but has long been a proxy battleground between the U.S. and Iran, warned that it did not want to be dragged into the war that started on Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Qatar A prayer appealing to God for protection is projected on the dome of al-Hazm shopping mall in Doha on March 1, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Qatar Motorists drive past a plume of smoke rising from a reported Iranian strike in the industrial district of Doha on March 1, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Bahrain A building that was damaged by an Iranian drone attack, after Israel and the U.S. launched strikes on Iran, in Manama, Bahrain, March 1, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Saudi Arabia The empty terminal at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh is pictured on March 1, 2026. Global airlines cancelled flights across the Middle East after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Saturday, plunging the region into a new conflict. In Saudi Arabia, Iranian missiles targeting Riyadh's international airport and the Prince Sultan Airbase, which houses U.S. military personnel, were intercepted, a Gulf source briefed on the matter told AFP." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
United Arab Emirates A food delivery bike drive close to a plume of smoke rising from the Zayed Port following a reported Iranian strike in Abu Dhabi on March 1, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
United Arab Emirates An oil tanker is pictured offshore in Dubai on March 1, 2026. Attacks have damaged tankers, and many ship owners, oil majors and trading houses suspended crude oil, fuel and liquefied natural gas shipments via the Strait of Hormuz." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Oman Smoke billows from an oil tanker under U.S. sanctions, that was hit off Oman's Musandam peninsula, in this screen grab from a video obtained by Reuters on March 1, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Kuwait Smoke rises from a reported Iranian strike in the area where the U.S. Embassy is located in Kuwait City on March 2, 2026. Black smoke was seen rising from the U.S. embassy in Kuwait City on March 2 after the latest volley of Iranian strikes, an AFP correspondent saw," style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Saudi Arabia A satellite image shows efforts to control a fire as smoke rises in the Ras Tanura oil refinery in Saudi Arabia after a drone attack, amid the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran, in Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia March 2, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Turkey People make their way after crossing from Iran into Turkey at the Kapikoy Border Gate in eastern Van province,Turkey, March 2, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
United Arab Emirates Delivery persons ride motorcycles along a road as a tall smoke plume billows following an explosion in the Fujairah industrial zone on March 3, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
United Arab Emirates Pieces of missiles and drones recovered after Iran's strikes are displayed during a press briefing by the UAE government held in Abu Dhabi on March 3, 2026. Iran stepped up its attacks on economic targets and US missions across the Middle East on March 3, as the US president warned it was "too late" for the Islamic republic to seek talks to escape the war. As drones and missiles crashed into oil facilities and U.S. embassies in the Gulf, Washington's ally Israel bombarded targets in Iran and pushed troops deeper into Lebanon to battle the Tehran-backed militia Hezbollah." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Lebanon Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburbs of Beirut on March 3, 2026. The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for dozens of locations in Lebanon on March 3, including warning residents in two southern Beirut neighbourhoods to stay away from several buildings ahead of an imminent operation." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Lebanon Emergency personnel work at the site of an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, Lebanon, March 3, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Lebanon Rescuers gather at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the Jamaa Islamiya offices in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Sidon on March 3, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
United Arab Emirates Tankers are seen off the coast of the Fujairah, as Iran vows to close the Strait of Hormuz, amid the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran, in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, March 3, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
See how the Iran war's fallout is hitting the Middle East
See how Middle Eastern countries are caught in the crossfire of thewar launched by the United States and Israel against Iran.BahrainSmoke rises in the sky after blasts were heard in Manama, Bahrain, Feb. 28, 2026.
Now onweek three, the United States has destroyed much of Iran's armed forces and its stores of missiles. Its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been killed.
But the ayatollah's son has taken his place, and Tehran has managed to essentially paralyze the crucial Strait of Hormuz with the threat of mines and attacks from small boats. That has spiked the cost of energy around the world and across the United States, including at the gas pump.
For Trump, that has made it both problematic to declare victory and increasingly costly to continue the fight.
"I think the president, frankly, is stuck," State Department veteran Aaron David Miller said on MSNOW.
All his options have downsides.
Asking allies for help – and hearing 'no'
For starters, Trump has found himself in the unaccustomed role ofasking allies for help,to send warships that could escort vessels safely through the Strait of Hormuz. That may be the clearest message yet that he now sees an extended campaign ahead, not one that the forces arrayed in the region can end within a few weeks.
Also unaccustomed: Many allies declined.
Some noted that Trump launched the war without asking their advice or support. "This is not our war," Germany's defense minister, Boris Pistorius, said. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the United Kingdom would not be "drawn into wider war." The European Union declined. Japan said it would consider the request.
Their demurrals prompted a rebuke froman angry Trump. "We don't need anybody," he told reporters at the White House on March 16. "We're the strongest nation in the world."
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Meanwhile, he rejected the idea that the United States had underestimated Iran's ability to flummox a more powerful enemy. "I knew about the strait − that it could be a weapon, which I predicted a long time ago," he shrugged.
He reiterated the importance of stopping, once and for all, its nuclear ambitions. "You can't let the most violent, vicious country in the last 50 years have a nuclear weapon, because the Middle East will be gone," he said.
But he didn't explain how the United States could or would gain control of the uranium that Iran has processed nearly to bomb-grade, now buried far underground near Isfahan. That could involve deploying special operations teams and ground troops − a perilous mission that would carry the risk of higher casualties and deeper complications.
He has ordered an additionalexpeditionary force of 2,500 Marinesto the Middle East. When a reporter on Air Force One asked Trump to explain the deployment, he replied, "Shh, you are a very obnoxious person," and called on another reporter for a question.
Most Americans aren't persuaded that the initial strikes were a good idea or that the war will make the United States safer.
In aQuinnipiac Polltaken March 6-8, 53% of voters opposed the U.S. strikes, and three of four (74%) were against sending ground troops. Nearly two-thirds (62%) said the White Househadn't provided a clear explanationfor the military action.
The survey of 1,002 registered voters had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
Only one in five predicted the war would last just days or weeks. More than 7 in 10 predicted it would last months or a year or even longer.
What defines a presidency?
Another lesson of history: Big wars tend to take over presidencies.
LBJ is remembered more for the misadventure in Vietnam than he is for the Great Society legislation that created Medicare and Medicaid. George W. Bush's presidency is defined by two of America's longest wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan, which lasted longer than his tenure in office.
During his second term, Trump has been focused onhis legacy− in adding his name to the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Kennedy Center, in campaigning for the Nobel Peace Prize with an argument he had settled wars from Armenia to Rwanda.
In Iran, though, peace now seems far away.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Trump's Iran war lesson: It's easier to get into a conflict than out