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Trump Ignoring Lessons From Past: Sir Lawrence Freedman
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March 15, 2026
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6:51Now PlayingExpert Warns Trump Administration May Face More Extreme Regime After Strikes. Sir Lawrence Freedman, King’s College London professor emeritus of war studies, speaks with David Gura and Christina Ruffini on "Bloomberg This Weekend." As the US-Israeli war on Iran enters its third week, pressure is growing on the person in the best position to end it: Donald Trump.
But the US president’s ever-shifting explanations for why he went to war leave friends and adversaries at a loss to forecast when he’ll be ready to stop. And even if he does, Iran has shown little willingness to go along. Trump has gone from declaring the war over soon to calling on European and Gulf allies to help. They’re reluctant, and the likes of Russia are benefiting.
The state of play was exemplified by a recent call with Group of Seven leaders where Trump was repeatedly pressed by European counterparts about his endgame, according to people familiar with the exchange. He said he couldn’t discuss the war’s objectives on the call, but told the leaders he had several in mind and wanted the conflict to end soon.
The past 48 hours have only deepened the confusion among once-stalwart allies. Conversations with several officials since Trump told Fox News that the war would end when he felt it “in my bones” paint a picture of bewilderment and shock. No one seems ready to rally to his call to deploy scant resources to help reopen the virtually shut Strait of Hormuz, the conduit for a fifth of global oil and a large share of liquefied natural gas.
A White House official said the US’s objectives are to destroy Iran’s missile capability and navy, in addition to ensuring that the country can never obtain a nuclear weapon. The US is also seeking to make sure that the Iranian regime can no longer fund proxy groups in other countries. The coalition-based operation will continue until Trump determines those objectives have been met, the official said.
Meanwhile, backchannels to Iran are proliferating as countries from India to Turkey seek safe passage for ships through Hormuz.
Even Japan, which rarely wants to appear out of lockstep with the US, said through a senior official that efforts to escort ships face “high hurdles.” That amounts to a polite “no” that reverberates across countries the US failed to consult on the war that it launched Feb. 28 and is now set to last several weeks Trump told the Financial Times on Sunday that he may delay a planned summit with China’s Xi Jinping if it doesn’t help the US open up Hormuz and that European allies need to step up in particular.
“If there’s no response or if it’s a negative response I think it will be very bad for the future of NATO,” he told the paper.
He subsequently told reporters on Air Force One that it would be interesting “to see what country wouldn’t help with a very small endeavor” to get oil tankers flowing through the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump also took direct aim at the UK prime minister, saying he told Keir Starmer that the US “will remember” if it gets support for the war or not.
Trump told reporters that the US is in talks with “about seven countries” about forming a coalition to secure the strait and escort ships through the corridor.
Tehran’s forces fire missiles and drones daily at targets across the Mideast despite punishing US and Israeli attacks — and Trump’s claims of victory. Iran’s stranglehold on shipping in the strait has driven oil prices above $100 a barrel, shaking economies worldwide and threatening Trump’s political prospects at home. Even one of Trump’s own advisers went public Friday, calling on him to declare victory and end the fighting.
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