President Trump has announced that the U.S. and Israel have "successfully knocked out" Iran’s navy, air force, and air detection capabilities after four days of heavy strikes. In a press conference alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, President Trump justified the strikes by stating he "had a feeling" that Iran was about to strike first, especially as nuclear talks were stalling, a statement that contradicts his own Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s claims that the U.S. was responding to plans by Israel, which was about to strike Iran. 

The political implications of the war are growing, especially for the U.S. and Germany, where the war has elicited different reactions from the government and the public. For one, critics of the Trump administration have pointed out that the President has yet to prove that the U.S. was under a direct threat from Iran, a condition necessary for the war to be justified under U.S. law. In Germany, Chancellor Merz has come under pressure for