There Is One Crucial Reason We’re Talking About Boots on the Ground

By W.J. Hennigan and Massimo Calabresi

Mr. Hennigan writes about national security for Opinion. Mr. Calabresi is an Opinion editor at large.

Somewhere in the mountains of Iran lies a hidden stockpile that is poised to define the future of America’s war against the theocratic regime: 18 to 20 scuba-tank-like canisters, each of which contains up to 55 pounds of highly enriched uranium, the main material for making a nuclear weapon.

Iran spent decades and billions of dollars amassing that material, prompting Democratic and Republican presidents alike to insist America would do........

© The New York Times