Cannot strongly enough endorse my colleague Rose Kelanic oped in the NYTimes today. The US cannot allow itself to be entrapped into a war with Iran:

'Israel has unilaterally sabotaged Trump’s diplomatic efforts with Tehran and has entangled the US in a major regional war.' Christopher McCallion 👇 buff.ly/fuj57mb

'If Trump is to salvage his policy agenda at home and abroad, Washington needs to tell Israel that there are limits to its support.' Christopher McCallion 👇 buff.ly/fuj57mb

3 questions on US-Iran-Israel from The American Conservative. "If an Iran interventionist fails to answer these three questions, change the channel. The fairy tales are better on Disney."

On Face The Nation, with Thomas Massie, I asked what have we achieved? The strikes put our troops at risk & create a generation of hate. Can this country learn? We keep voting for a president who says we’re not going to war & then they get pushed into war by the Beltway.

Iran’s choice of symbolic symmetry in the number of missiles used — combined with Iran’s reported advance notice to US and Qatar — signals that it wants to close the book on this episode and not escalate further. US should take the W.

Stay cool doggies

Had a great conversation with David Leonhardt and Bret Stephens on the U.S. role in the Israel-Iran war for The New York Times The Opinions podcast. Defense Priorities Is Iran Really a Threat to the United States? A Debate. nytimes.com/2025/06/25/opi…

NEW EXPLAINER—"No GWOT-Narco: The perils of making war on cartels" by DEFP fellows Daniel DePetris and Christopher McCallion They argue any U.S. military incursion into Mexico will create more problems than it solves. defensepriorities.org/explainers/no-…

The Trump administration periodically returns to the idea of using U.S. military force inside Mexico to defeat the cartels and clamp down on fentanyl. Christopher McCallion and I have an explainer out showing why such a move will create more problems than it solves.

While the United States can take some practical measures to weaken the cartels, like stemming the flow of firearms into Mexico, there is no silver bullet to stop them. Daniel DePetris & Christopher McCallion break down why: defensepriorities.org/explainers/no-…

The US Must Stop Enabling Israel’s Destruction of #Gaza, write Christopher McCallion, and Rosemary A. Kelanic nationalinterest.org/blog/middle-ea… via @TheNatInterest

Without imposing conditions on Israeli behavior in Gaza, Washington risks stoking international terrorism and entangling itself in another Middle East war, argue Christopher McCallion and Rosemary Kelanic. ow.ly/mvjt30sOSBl

Russia maintains battlefield leverage. This limits Washington’s ability to shape the conflict through diplomacy, writes Christopher McCallion 👇 buff.ly/IISqlfG

All the more reason the U.S. needs to stop supporting Israel’s assault on Gaza, which hurts U.S. strategic interests and risks blowback against us for enabling an atrocity, as I argue w/Christopher McCallion here: nationalinterest.org/blog/middle-ea… Defense Priorities

Crucially, Trump’s peace plan for Gaza defers any concrete steps towards Palestinian statehood. Hamas is unlikely to accept this, writes Christopher McCallion👇 buff.ly/vlPGSOp

My latest in the Chicago Tribune on Trump’s seeming reversal on Ukraine, and what it really means. chicagotribune.com/2025/10/16/opi…

The newest installment in my series on topics in grand strategy for Defense Priorities: defensepriorities.org/explainers/gra…