‘This incompetence is just insane’: Critics dumbfounded as Trump officials admit defeat

U.S. officials made the startling admission recently that achieving the Trump administration’s primary goals in its war against Iran had become “unlikely,” The Washington Post reported, and that undoing the damage caused by the conflict had “emerged as perhaps” the war’s new “paramount objective,” a revelation that left several notable critics dumbfounded on Tuesday.

“The incompetence is just insane,” noted Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) on Tuesday in a social media post to their more than 1.1 million followers.

The Post spoke with both U.S. and Israeli security officials about the current state of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, some of whom spoke with the outlet on the condition of anonymity.

In their assessment, the initial objectives of the war – toppling the Iranian government and removing its ability to ever acquire a nuclear weapon – had likely become out of reach, with the new primary goal shifting to reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route that Iran shut down to U.S. ships in response to the attack President Donald Trump authorized late last month.

“In other words, the only real war aim now is to fix a problem entirely created by the decision to go to war,” wrote former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) in a social media post on X.

“The war aim is now re-opening a strait that would not have been closed were it not for the war itself,” wrote The Economist journalist Shashank Joshi, also in a social media post on X.

As early as March 9, just days after having authorized Operation Epic Fury, Trump claimed that the Iran war was “very complete, pretty much.” Behind the scenes, however, Iran’s defiance – particularly in its refusal to allow U.S.-aligned vessels to pass the Strait of Hormuz – has reportedly sparked panic within the Trump administration as oil prices continue to soar.

“Note also that the war’s ‘paramount objective’ is now ‘reopening the strait’ – in other words, the point of the war is now to undo what the war itself caused,” wrote professor and philosopher Edward Feser in a social media post on X. “Naturally, Trump will insist that all of this is a victory and what was intended all along, and the cult will cry ‘Amen!’”