\tPresident Donald Trump at the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace on February 19, 2026, in Washington, DC. | Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images\t<\/p>\n
This story appeared in\u00a0The Logoff, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life.\u00a0Subscribe here.<\/p>\n
Welcome to The Logoff: The Trump administration is staring down another conflict with Iran.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s happening? The US is in the midst of its largest military buildup in the Middle East since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, with one aircraft carrier group already on station and another, led by the USS Gerald Ford, on the way. In other words, as my colleague Josh Keating reported last week, \u201cIt really looks like we\u2019re about to bomb Iran again.\u201d<\/p>\n
What is Trump trying to accomplish? Trump\u2019s core demand is a new nuclear deal to limit Iran\u2019s uranium enrichment and block its path to a potential nuclear weapon. The US has reportedly also attempted to include Iran\u2019s ballistic missile program and its support for proxy forces throughout the Middle East in negotiations, which are \u2014 in theory \u2014 ongoing.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s the context? What to do about Iran has been a major question of both of Trump\u2019s presidencies. During his first term, he suspended a previous US-Iran nuclear deal negotiated under the Obama administration, and later brought the two countries to the brink of a larger conflict by assassinating a top Iranian general. Last year, Trump also bombed three Iranian nuclear facilities; the White House claimed at the time that the strikes had \u201cobliterated\u201d Iran\u2019s nuclear program.<\/p>\n
Haven\u2019t you written this newsletter before? More or less. The US naval buildup, and Trump\u2019s threats regarding Iran\u2019s nuclear program, have been ongoing for weeks. Earlier in January, Trump also promised to intervene on the side of anti-regime protesters in Iran, but he never followed through.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s the big picture? We don\u2019t yet know what\u2019s going to happen with Iran. But so far, the administration is taking a lot of steps that make it look like Trump is getting ready to launch strikes \u2014 such as evacuating some US diplomats from Lebanon on Monday \u2014 and not many that are pointing toward a climb-down.<\/p>\n
And with that, it\u2019s time to log off\u2026<\/p>\n
The 2026 Winter Olympics are over, but that doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re done with Olympics-themed Logoffs quite yet. You can still read my colleague Alex Abad-Santos on the highlights and lowlights of a great Games here (it\u2019s a gift link). And if you\u2019re looking for more winter sports, stay tuned \u2014 the Paralympics start next week! Thanks for reading, and have a great evening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Donald Trump at the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace on February 19, 2026, in Washington, DC. | … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[31],"class_list":["post-20354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-politics"],"yoast_head":"\n