After nearly four months of war, President Donald Trump announced a “great deal†on Truth Social Sunday.
“The deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete. Congratulations to all,†he posted. “I hereby fully authorize the toll free opening of the Strait of Hormuz, and, simultaneously herewith, authorize the immediate removal of the United States Naval blockade. Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!†The Secretariat of Iran's Supreme National Security Council confirmed the naval blockade would end Sunday night, with the formal signing ceremony set for Friday in Switzerland—though the text of the memorandum has not been publicly released.
The agreement is not a full peace treaty, leaves 60 days to negotiate a fuller deal, and is the latest twist in a war that has reshaped the Middle East and roiled the global economy.
On February 28, the United States and Israel launched a joint military operation against Iran, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei alongside dozens of senior Iranian leaders and severely degrading Iran's nuclear program. The war's opening weeks were swift and overwhelming—what followed was anything but. Iranian retaliatory strikes have caused significant damage at U.S. military installations in the Middle East; 13 American service members were killed and hundreds more wounded; and the Pentagon has acknowledged the war has cost $29 billion, a figure other estimates put much higher. At home, the war has driven up prices. The new Iranian regime is even more hard-line than the one it replaced. A shaky ceasefire has been in effect for 10 weeks—and even on Sunday, an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs threatened to derail a deal entirely.
The agreement paves the way for negotiations over Iran's nuclear program, with sanctions relief and billions in frozen assets on the table. What happens next is far from clear, but this struck us as an opportune moment to ask a range of contributors to weigh in on an urgent question: Was this war worth it? Their answers vary widely—and reflect the heated debate over the war that serves as the backdrop to the negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
Whether the conflict with Iran has been worth it depends on the terms of the deal ending it, and Trump's willingness to enforce them. Right now, both are very unclear.
