At every fork in the road on Iran, Trump's choices get worse

President Donald Trump has arrived at yet another fork in the road on Iran. But each time he reaches such a point, his options only become more narrow and the costs of any course of action grow.

The Trump administration explained Sunday that a pause in air strikes — now in its third night, after 13 straight nights of attacks — was meant to create space for diplomacy. But it also warned it was 'locked and loaded' for another possible escalation.

Last week, CNN's Katie Bo Lillis reported that both the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency recently assessed that the kind of bombing the US most recently carried out is unlikely to shift the Iranian negotiating position.

CNN's Zachary Cohen and Jim Sciutto reported that Vice President JD Vance and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine voiced concern about escalating the war in a White House meeting Friday. Caine was worried about the impact on munitions stockpiles.

A new CBS News/YouGov poll found that only 31% of Americans said they had a clear understanding of the situation in the Strait of Hormuz. Only 40% said the US had the advantage in the conflict. And 76% said the war with Iran had been harder than the Trump administration expected.