Why did the U.S. go to war with Iran? After proposing multiple answers, the plot thickens yet again in the New York Times.
At first, the Times claimed President Trump launched the operation because of Israeli pressure. Then, the outlet suggested that despite Israeli pressure and strong pushback from some members of Trump’s inner circle, the president himself made the critical decision to strike. On another occasion, after several incidents demonstrated Trump can wield significant sway over Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s decision-making, the Times relegated allegations of Israeli influence over the U.S. to mere “perception.”
Now, the Times has introduced more actors who might be responsible for the U.S.’s decision: Iranians themselves. In a July 21, 2026, column, Thomas Friedman claimed that the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad might be highly competent in assassinating people it wants dead, but its understanding of socio-political dynamics in the countries surrounding Israel is often flawed.
Friedman wrote that the Mossad is very good at targeting Israel’s enemies across the Middle East, including in Iran, because it relies on disgruntled, aggrieved, or financially motivated locals for useful intelligence. These individuals might provide important information, but they also want to topple their own regimes. This leads them to “exaggerate how weak their regime is and how easy bringing it down would be. They want Israel to do the dirty work for them.”
These exaggerations, Friedman implies, taint Mossad’s socio-political analysis, with critical consequences:
The result is that a dupe like Trump… assumes that because the Mossad is good at assassinating people, it is equally good at predicting what will happen the morning after they are dead.
Friedman claims this is what happened during that February 2026 meeting, when Netanyahu and then-Mossad chief David Barnea presented Israel’s war plan in a White House meeting:
The president apparently assumed that because the Mossad had super assassination powers it also had super analytical powers, and therefore Iran would tumble into his lap the same way Venezuela did when the U.S. removed its president, Nicolás Maduro.
So, why did the U.S. go to war with Iran? Apparently, the New York Times thinks that Israeli pressure, the president himself, disgruntled Iranians and an analytically challenged Mossad are all to blame. But this might also just be mere “perception.”
The role of journalism is to uncover what has happened. The Times itself states that its mission is to “seek the truth and help people understand the world.” But the newspaper seemingly cannot offer clarity on this topic. Instead, readers are given multiple contradictory theories, each presented with the confidence of the Times’ editors. Readers are offered a headache, when they should be getting the aspirin. Confusing Times, indeed.