As the costs of the Iran campaign mount and Congress fights over a bill to cover them, a familiar question is circulating in Washington: Did this war have to happen? It is the right question aimed at the wrong date.

The honest ledger on this conflict does not open on Feb. 28, 2026, when the first Tomahawks flew. It opens on the night of April 13, 2024, when Iran fired more than 300 drones and missiles at a U.S. ally after an American warning, and paid no price for it.