To hear President Trump and his aides describe it, the rush to withdraw 12 B-1 bombers from an air base in Britain over the weekend was a prudent precaution, in response to a threat they refused to describe.<\/p>\n
It was no big deal, Mr. Trump insisted, and his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, tried to wave it away by noting that the Pentagon is \u201cconstantly reallocating resources where \u200bthey need to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
But to anyone watching the deployment of American power around the globe in the seven months since Mr. Trump decided to attack Iran, it was another glaring example of how, time after time, Mr. Trump and his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, have been forced into retreat, pulling back military forces that had been deployed to the Middle East and Britain as a deterrent.<\/p>\n
Over the past several months, as the conflict has dragged on, the Iran war has come to reveal enormous new American vulnerabilities, forcing changes that the Pentagon was not contemplating a year ago. But it has also proved a bitter lesson in the unintended consequences that have flowed from Mr. Trump\u2019s war of choice.<\/p>\n
Mr. Trump intended the attack on Iran as another demonstration of the American military\u2019s extraordinary power, following the successful bombing raid on three Iranian nuclear sites in June 2025 and the seizure of President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro of Venezuela from his bed in Caracas in January.<\/p>\n
But rather than enhance American power, the war has constrained it. The closing of bases in the Middle East and limiting the use of one in Britain have, at a minimum, vastly complicated the logistics of projecting power. American bombers can still reach their targets, of course, but only by flying from the United States, requiring more time and refueling. American carrier groups can still patrol in the Arabian Sea, outside the Persian Gulf, but now they must be resupplied from Diego Garcia<\/a>, an island in the Indian Ocean 2,200 miles away, requiring additional weeks and huge costs.<\/p>\n But most importantly, the rapid withdrawals have taught a lesson to the Iranians \u2014 and potentially to other adversaries \u2014 that they hold the power to chase out a superpower. In Europe, Mr. Trump and Mr. Hegseth are thinking of reducing American forces on their terms and their schedule. In the Middle East and Britain, their hand was forced.<\/p>\n American and British officials said on Monday that the bombers were rushed out of the British base after commanders received specific, credible information that Iran-backed operatives were planning to launch drone strikes<\/a> against the aircraft and U.S. troops from right outside the fence.<\/p>\n The suspected plotters may have been inspired in part by an audacious attack that Ukraine launched against Russia last year when it smuggled drones deep into the Russian heartland and launched them from semi trucks. The strikes damaged or destroyed at least a dozen aircraft.<\/p>\n That and other attacks have recalibrated the Pentagon\u2019s understanding of military vulnerabilities. Suddenly, keeping forces out of missile range is not enough. Drones and cyberweapons have reshaped the battlefield.<\/p>\n The president rightly says that Iran\u2019s entire navy was sunk in the initial military action, and its decrepit air force is out of business. And the country is teetering on the economic edge, crippled by the naval blockade that has brought its oil exports to a trickle.<\/p>\n