Escalation Without Exit: Trump's Troubling Dilemma in Iran As the world watches the latest developments unfold between Washington and Tehran, President Trump finds himself boxed into a precarious situation.
Despite his boasts of "maximum pressure" on Iran, he is caught in an "escalation trap," a concept popularized by University of Chicago Professor Robert Pape.
A Prisoner of His Own Making Trump's initial strategy vis à vis Iran was to unilaterally withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2019.