Trump’s Iran campaign echoes the post-9/11 ‘forever wars’
With the 9/11 anniversary at hand, Trump's war against Iran is drawing comparisons to the conflicts in the Middle East that preceded it.
The Tribute in Light installation is illuminated over the lower Manhattan skyline ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, in New York on Wednesday. | REUTERS
Sep 10, 2026
WASHINGTON – When Donald Trump campaigned for a second term in the White House, he promised to be a “president of peace” who would stop foreign wars, not start them.
Now, a quarter-century after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that triggered America’s global “war on terror,” he is entangled in an unpopular conflict of his own making that analysts say risks becoming his version of a “forever war.”
With the 9/11 anniversary at hand, Trump’s war against Iran is drawing comparisons in foreign policy circles to the long, divisive conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq that preceded it. It is also prompting questions about whether the U.S. has again failed to learn the lessons of past conflicts or prepare a clear exit strategy.
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