Trump is being schooled on the limits of US power – but he is a slow learner | Rafael Behr

Trump's military strike on Iran has failed to achieve its strategic objectives, exposing constraints on American power that the president appears reluctant to acknowledge. The airstrikes were intended to demonstrate US military dominance but instead revealed that military force cannot eliminate Iran's geographic advantage over global shipping routes or manufacture political upheaval within Iran itself. Despite the show of force, Tehran's control over the Strait of Hormuz remains intact, allowing it to threaten merchant vessels and disrupt international commerce—a leverage point that Trump's arsenal cannot eliminate. The president is now pressuring NATO allies to provide naval escorts and calling on tanker crews to risk sailing through contested waters, effectively asking others to absorb the costs of a strategy that hasn't worked. The pattern reflects a broader struggle Trump faces: his "America First" approach repeatedly collides with the reality that US economic and military dominance has real limits in an interdependent global system.