Good morning! Today is Monday, June 8th 2026, and this is The American Conservative's Morning Brief. Iran fired ballistic missiles at Israel Sunday night in the first major breach of the April ceasefire, after Israeli strikes on Beirut defied private White House objections and Trump publicly urged restraint on both sides. Jennifer Kavanagh argues in The American Conservative that Operation Epic Fury has been a strategic disaster, with Iran's regime, nuclear program, and missile arsenal largely intact and the Strait of Hormuz still closed. Kavanagh calls for managed retrenchment—ending Middle East security commitments, narrowing NATO obligations, and dropping strategic ambiguity on Taiwan—warning that the alternative is forced retreat dictated by adversaries or defeat. and now for the details. We begin with breaking news from the Middle East. Iran fired ballistic missiles at Israel Sunday night, following Israeli strikes earlier in the day on Beirut. It marks the first Iranian attack on Israel since a ceasefire was declared in April. The Israeli military said it intercepted the missiles, and no injuries have been reported. President Trump told Axios he intended to call Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and urge restraint. In Trump's words, "Each of them had their fun. Israel had its strike, and Iran had its strike. We don't need another one." Israeli hardliners pushed in the opposite direction. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir posted on social media that "Tehran must burn tonight." As Andrew Day reports for The American Conservative, Tehran maintains the ceasefire covers Lebanon, where Israel continues a deadly campaign, and therefore both Israel and the United States have violated the truce. The exchange comes just days after Washington brokered an Israel-Lebanon ceasefire that Hezbollah has rejected, and represents the most serious test yet of the fragile end to the Iran War. The Israeli strikes that touched off Iran's retaliation came against the public and private objections of the White House. As Harrison Berger reports, Israel bombed Beirut's southern suburbs on Sunday, despite a U.S. request last week not to attack the Lebanese capital. In an interview aired on NBC's Meet the Press, President Trump said he "would like to see a more surgical attack against Hezbollah." Iranian officials responded sharply. A spokesman for Iran's Parliament Commission on National Security warned of a "decisive and painful response," and Iran's Speaker of Parliament said the naval blockade and what he called America's "green light" make U.S. bases and assets in the region "legitimate targets." Trump told NBC that the U.S. and Iran are "very close" to a deal, with only a few points remaining. But Tehran has made a Lebanon ceasefire, including an Israeli withdrawal, a precondition for ending the war. Lebanon's Health Ministry reports Israeli strikes have killed at least 3,613 people since early March. Brent Crude closed Friday at $93 a barrel, and AAA reports the national average price of regular gasoline at $4.17. In a major essay for The American Conservative, Jennifer Kavanagh argues that the war President Trump launched against Iran on February 28th has produced a strategic disaster, and that the consequences will reshape American foreign policy for a generation. Three months into Operation Epic Fury, the regime in Tehran remains in place, Iran's nuclear program is intact, and the Strait of Hormuz, once the passageway for twenty percent of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas, remains effectively closed. Reports suggest Iran retains up to seventy percent of its pre-war missiles and access to thirty of its thirty-three missile sites. The Pentagon has told Congress the first forty days of war cost twenty-nine billion dollars, but Kavanagh notes the true figure is likely double that, before counting damage to at least sixteen U.S. installations across eight countries, dozens of destroyed sensors and radars, and forty-two damaged or destroyed aircraft. The United States has burned through roughly a thousand Tomahawk missiles and nearly half its Patriot and THAAD stockpiles. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has acknowledged it will take years to replenish them. Kavanagh's conclusion is blunt. The era of American military dominance is over, and consolidation alone will not suffice. She calls for managed retrenchment, organized around two narrow interests: defending the homeland and ensuring access to key economic markets. That would mean ending security commitments in the Middle East, returning to a literal reading of NATO's Article 5, dropping strategic ambiguity on Taiwan, and pulling back from alliance commitments in Thailand, the Philippines, and South Korea. The alternative, she warns, is forced retrenchment, dictated by adversaries, fiscal pressures, or defeat in a war Washington is not prepared to fight. Those are today's highlights. For the full stories and more, visit theamericanconservative.com. T
