To the entire planet’s relief, Artemis II isn’t flying back to an Earth marked by a gigantic atomic plume. While no one knows what the president had planned, whatever ballistic holocaust that Donald Trump threatened for Iran on Tuesday night didn’t happen. Ninety minutes before his deadline for bombing the country into extinction, the White House declared a buzzer-beating two-week ceasefire. And while the announcement provided some much-needed breathing space for the Middle East, it also triggered an onslaught of questions about just how sincere the prospect of peace could actually be.

Unlike the president, who went from proposing the region’s annihilation to suggesting the region was about to enter its “Golden Age,” others are wondering if the two nations can even make it 10 days without trading fire. While coming to the table is a savvy way to buy time (Hamas made a professional sport of it), who’s to say Iran is interested in upholding any sort of treaty with the West? As Jim Geraghty at NRO reminds the optimists, a recurring theme of the regime is its willingness to break just about every peace deal it’s ever signed.

But then, how exactly does one have “peace” with Islamist radicals honor-bound to annihilate every non-Muslim on the planet? No one is quite sure. Maybe that’s why Vice President J.D. Vance was quick to describe the current agreement as a “fragile truce.” “If the Iranians are willing in good faith to work with us, I think we can make an agreement,” he said. “If they’re going to lie, if they’re going to cheat, if they’re trying then to prevent even the fragile truce that we’ve set up from taking place, then they’re not going to be happy,” he warned, “because what the president has also shown is that we still have clear military, diplomatic and, maybe most importantly, we have extraordinary economic leverage.”

Right now, the two sides seem to be oceans apart on terms. To hear Trump tell it, the United States will be “hangin’ around” the Strait of Hormuz to “make sure that everything goes well” in the strategic waterway. In America’s reportedly 15-point plan, there’s obviously interest in making sure that Iran never acquires — or tries to acquire — nuclear weapons again. The president is also insisting on removing the remains of Iran’s “previous stockpiles” of uranium. Then, of course, there are the concerns about the regime’s cooperation in the global oil trade.

By Wednesday afternoon, the regime was already breaking its word on the Strait of Hormuz, closing it in retaliation for Israel’s continued bombardment of Lebanon, and striking energy complexes across Kuwait, UAE, and Saudi Arabia. “That is completely unacceptable,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt argued. “And again, this is a case of what they’re saying publicly is different privately. We have seen an uptick of traffic in the Strait today. And I will reiterate the president’s expectation and demand that the Strait of Hormuz is reopened immediately, quickly, and safely. That is his expectation.”

Meanwhile, Iran has its own list of 10 mind-boggling demands — nine and a half of which, Geraghty underscores, are complete non-starters.

• “The U.S. should commit, in principle, to guarantee non-aggression
• Iran’s continued control of the Strait of Hormuz
• Iran’s uranium enrichment right should be accepted
• Lifting of all primary sanctions
• Lifting of all secondary sanctions
• Termination of all U.N. Security Council resolutions
• Termination of all IAEA Board of Governors resolutions
• Payment of compensation for damages inflicted on Iran
• Withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from the region
• Cessation of the war on all fronts, including against the heroic Islamic resistance in Lebanon” (aka Hezbollah)

“A U.S. concession to just about any of them would represent a dreadful setback to American national security interests,” he underscores. “This is an ayatollah’s wish list. Late last month, I warned, ‘What’s left of the Iranian regime will make promises that they have no intention of keeping, lie at the negotiating table and in television interviews, cheat, steal, block international inspectors — you name it.’ In light of this,” Geraghty shook his head, “it is fair to wonder what the point of negotiating with them is.”

Recognizing that Iran is likely not acting in good faith, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told reporters Wednesday that American troops are “not going anywhere” until this deal is iron-clad. “Our troops are prepared to defend, prepared to go on offense, prepared to restart at a moment’s notice with whatever target package would be needed,” he insisted. “What we know is that Iran is going to say a lot of things. A lot of people are going to say a lot of things, claim a lot of things.” As for the Strait of Hormuz, Hegseth shrugged. “What has been agreed to, what’s been stated, is the strait is open. Our military is watching. I’m sure their military is watching, but commerce will flow. And that’s what you saw the market reacts to, is that reality.”

The tenuous deal did seem to at least temporarily placate Wall Street and the oil industry, where prices dropped $100 a barrel. Financial markets around the world were also up after Trump postponed Iran’s obliteration. But, as experts are quick to point out, “Keep in mind: there are a lot of oil refineries, natural gas facilities, industrial sites, and ports in the Arab states that have been damaged in the past five weeks, and repairing those sites will take time.”

Speaking of those damaged sites, the reality of what the U.S. and Israeli militaries accomplished in these few weeks is astounding. While the media spares no ink praising Trump’s unprecedented offensive against the number one state sponsor of terrorism, the breadth of destruction in Iran is impressive by any metric. Let’s review, Noah Rothman urges. “Iran’s central nervous system has been severed. ... Its command-and-control, intelligence, and domestic security apparatuses have been severely degraded. Its navy and air force are gone. Its air defense network and nuclear weapons programs — two pricey sources of regime prestige — are in ruins. Its petrochemical and steel industries have been badly damaged, truncating two major sources of foreign revenue that sustain the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.” When the Iranian people “come for their tormenters again,” he added, pointing to the massive protests, “they will do so knowing the state terror apparatus that has haunted them for generations is a shell of what it once was.”

Operation Epic Fury has been, by all accounts, a groundbreaking success. How it ends, however, matters — a fact that Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) reiterated to Family Research Council President Tony Perkins on Wednesday’s “Washington Watch.” Look, the senator admitted, “I prefer diplomacy to end the reign of terror of the Iranian regime. But the goal is to end the Iranian regime’s terror tactics. And if we can do it through diplomacy, fine.” But, he cautioned, “The president said today that the 10-point Iranian plan he didn’t support. … He’d like to end this well, but it takes two to tango. And I’m very suspicious that Iran will ever do this,” he cautioned. “It’s in their DNA to want to acquire a nuclear weapon because this is not a normal regime.”

For Iran, Graham insisted, “It’s a face-saving deal. [But] I don’t care about saving face for somebody who’s killed 45,000 of their own people [and who’s] got American blood dripping from their hands.”

To those on the Left and around the world who shamed Trump for acting against Iran, Graham’s colleague, Senator Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) reminds everyone, “For 47 years, they’ve been shooting at American servicemembers and [at others] in the neighborhood. They’ve been a menace, to say the least.” And to suggest that we shouldn’t have to strike, “Remember,” he told Perkins on “This Week on Capitol Hill,” “that’s what George Bush thought when the Twin Towers came down. That’s what Roosevelt thought when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. That’s what we thought in World War I, ‘That’s not our problem.’”

It’s much less costly in lives and dollars, he underscored, “to hit them before they hit us.” But then, Cramer said, “I think you have to make [the case] over and over and over again, because our friends [in the] mainstream media are never going to tell that story.”

Perkins agreed, pointing to the run-up to World War II. “Had people actually listened to what Adolf Hitler was saying … his intentions were very clear, but yet no one wanted to act. And I do think it’s much easier in hindsight to say, ‘Well, we should have acted.’ And there’s a lot of criticism when people do act [from people saying], ‘We didn’t need to act.’” In this instance, the evidence was incredibly “strong.”

For now, the fate of the Middle East — and Israel especially — hangs in the balance. There will be no freedom in Iran, religious or otherwise, if the regime “ever comes back,” Graham stressed. “It’s a nightmare for Israel. We’re very close to finishing this regime off. Let’s finish them off if they don’t do a good deal.”