The United States is, once again, on the precipice of entering another war in the Middle East. After months of productive negotiations between the Trump administration and the Iranian government to reach a new nuclear deal, the talks were broken off by a series of Israeli airstrikes on June 13, last Friday.

The Israelis targeted the homes and apartments of top Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) officials, nuclear scientists, and negotiators who had been working with the U.S. They also hit Iranian nuclear facilities and various military sites Iran would have relied on to defend against Israel's attack and eventually retaliate.

Israeli officials and their allies in the media have called these strikes "preemptive" without providing evidence that an Iranian attack on Israel was imminent. What the attack did preempt, however, was the next phase of the U.S.-Iranian negotiations, which was scheduled to begin on Sunday.

Trump, who had made numerous public statements opposing Israel's interest in bombing Iran before the strikes actually happened, turned around and declared that he had simply been lying to all of us to help make the operation as successful as possible.