President Trump on Saturday night announced that the U.S. had dropped bombs on three Iranian nuclear sites — Natanz, Esfahan, and the heavily fortified Fordow and that planes were back on their way home.

It is too early to assess how successful the strike was, or to what extent Iran still has the ability to retaliate.

It is worth noting however, on Thursday, Trump had said that he would decide “within two weeks” whether to launch an attack on Iran. The media placed much emphasis on the “two weeks’ part while ignoring the “within.” It didn’t take two weeks for Trump to realize that Iranians had not changed their negotiating position, and they would never agree to peacefully give up enrichment and dismantle their nuclear program.

So Trump, having said that under no circumstances would Iran be able to get a nuclear bomb, had no option to neutralize the threat other than military action.