Steven Erlanger

BERLIN -- Nervous about being excluded by President Donald Trump from any talks to end the Russia-Ukraine war, three European countries are working

NO one starts a war expecting it to last forever. Yet, since Vietnam, American presidents have repeatedly gotten into conflicts that seem

Iran has survived decades of sanctions. Faced with more, it is likely to escalate rather than surrender, analysts said.

Iran is more likely to step up attacks on U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf than to surrender its hold on the Strait of Hormuz, analysts said.

Trump’s replacement of a military war with a heightened economic one is not expected to alter Iran’s strategy, while further impoverishing its people.

BERLIN — It was supposed to be quick. Still, six months after the United States and Israel launched massive airstrikes on Iran, the conflict drags on.

BERLIN — It was supposed to be quick.

U.S. credibility among allies has suffered along with President Donald Trump's own reputation for avoiding costly, interminable wars in the Middle East and promoting “affordability” at home.

It is difficult to see the war as anything other than a failure by the US to bend Iran to its will, with damaging strategic and economic implications for Washington still to play out.

It was supposed to be quick. Still, six months after the US and Israel launched powerful airstrikes on Iran, the conflict drags on. The Trump administration has replaced its military war with an economic one, but the result is likely to be no different, analysts said, with a lack of American clarity about goals, a decline in US credibility and a strategic defeat.