Trump's Iran war boosters in panic as he gets boxed in: 'The terms have changed'
Donald Trump's most loyal Iran war hawks are experiencing buyer's remorse as what they envisioned as a quick military victory threatens to metastasize into a prolonged, unpopular quagmire requiring American boots on the ground, according to a report.
More than two weeks into the campaign, insiders close to the White House are sounding the alarm — the president has lost control of the conflict's trajectory, Politico reported. Iran now holds the upper hand, they warn, and Trump may have boxed himself into a corner where escalation — potentially including a full ground invasion — becomes the only face-saving option.
"They decide how long we're involved — and they decide if we put boots on the ground. And it doesn't seem to me that there's a way around that, if we want to save face," one White House insider told Politico.
The core problem: securing oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz against Iranian attacks almost certainly requires seizing Iranian territory — a step that would inevitably mean deploying American troops on Iranian soil.
"The terms have changed," said a second person familiar with U.S. operations in Iran. "The off-ramps don't work anymore because Iran is driving the asymmetric action."
The deteriorating situation is rattling Trump's "America First" coalition, which fears the president is stumbling into exactly the kind of open-ended Middle East morass he spent a decade condemning. With Iran weaponizing oil market disruption to drive up gas prices, Republicans worry the conflict has become a political time bomb — especially heading into midterms when voters are already furious about inflation and affordability.
"For the White House, now the only easy day was yesterday," the insider added bluntly. "They need to worry about an unraveling."
Some Trump allies are still urging restraint, arguing the administration retains non-military tools to pressure Tehran. But they acknowledge each U.S. escalation narrows the exit ramps further.
The severity of the initial strikes compounds the problem. By killing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei along with dozens of senior commanders and family members, Trump may have made Iranian capitulation impossible. The new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei — the late leader's son — has far less incentive to back down than his predecessor.
"You've killed one guy, the next guy up is even more radical. You killed his dad and his wife," one White House source said. "Do you think he's gonna be more — or less — reasonable?"
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