Comment by ignoramous
17 hours ago
> tiny coalition of Israel and the US
This coalition is "tiny" insofar NATO & the GCC (well, apart from Bahrain and the UAE) refused to join the attacks, despite Iran's transgressions. The US could wage this war for many years all alone, and force the GCC to watch as the region burned. I guess, Trump's administration isn't willing to go as far as the current Israeli leadership may have hoped or wanted. That said, the war could very well still flare up, if the events from past 2 years following "talks" are any indicator.
why would NATO join the attacks? NATO is a defensive agreement, not a "kick a hornets nest and drag your former friends into it" agreement
> why would NATO join the attacks
I don't disagree, but the expectation from the US Admin was some of their NATO allies would join (like they did in Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq). Especially since the Oil spike hurts Europe (where the NATO nations are) the most.
> NATO is a defensive agreement
Turkey was attacked by Iran, though, it is unclear if Turkey would have invoked Art5 even if Iran had kept escalating.
Building coalitions is slow, deliberative work. Not a skills match for this administration, whatever your assessment of their overall aptitude is.