April 11, 2026  |  View in Browser

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Good morning,

As I sit down to write this, the temporary cease-fire the United States and Iran signed this week seems to be holding. Whether it will lead to a permanent end to the war is another matter. Although military and political leaders still hope for speedy victories, protracted conflict has become the norm in recent decades, as Lawrence Freedman wrote last year. Those who sign cease-fires “tend to regard them as no more than pauses in the fighting,” and combat alone rarely resolves the root causes of a dispute. While we wait to see how U.S.-Iranian talks unfold, Freedman’s essay offers a timely reminder of why politicians and generals have so often “planned for short wars but ended up getting long ones”—and valuable insight into how leaders today can avoid the same trap.

Until next week,

© 2026 Council on Foreign Relations | 58 East 68^th Street, New York NY | 10065

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