The Trump administration’s arguments for the war in Iran are all over the place, as are its goals. But that cannot obscure that the aerial campaign has been about as successful as these things can be. Whether brilliant tactics can rescue a mess of a strategy remains to be seen.

The war is the culmination of a long effort by Binyamin Netanyahu. The Israeli prime minister is enjoying the backing of most political parties and a majority of voters right now. But his personal popularity is still under water. Success might rescue him (elections are due by the end of October) but that, too, remains in the balance.

Finally, a programming note: this week’s edition of The Insider, on Anthropic’s battle with the Pentagon, will now air at 6pm London time (1pm New York) on Friday—24 hours later than planned.