The ceasefire between the United States and Iran is finished, and ordinary Americans will pay for it — at the gas pump, in military spending, and potentially in blood.

Over the past 48 hours, U.S. forces struck targets inside Iran at a pace not seen in previous flare-ups. The New York Times reported more than 170 targets hit; NBC News put the figure at roughly 90. Either way, the military said the strikes were designed to degrade Iran's ability to attack commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran retaliated by firing missiles and drones at American military facilities in Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan — all U.S. ally nations hosting American forces. Kuwait said it intercepted three ballistic missiles, a cruise missile, and 10 drones; Jordan shot down eight Iranian missiles.

President Trump dismissed further peace talks as "a waste of time," then claimed on his flight back to Washington that Iran had called him because they "want to make a deal so badly." Iran's top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, had a different message: "Hit, and you'll be hit." Iran has not confirmed any new negotiations are underway.

This is the same pattern that dragged America into every Middle Eastern quagmire of the last two decades: a provocation, an escalation, and no defined exit. The war was launched by the U.S. and Israel in February. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in those initial strikes and was buried Thursday in Mashhad after days of funeral processions. Iranian state media reported that U.S. strikes hit civilian infrastructure, including railway bridges on the route to Mashhad. NBC News geolocated video showing a damaged railway bridge in Golestan Province. A local official also claimed a U.S. airstrike hit the perimeter of the Bushehr nuclear power plant — a claim the Pentagon did not address. At least 14 people were killed and 78 wounded in two days of U.S. attacks, per Iran's health ministry.

The stated justification is Iran's attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump warned: "This is in retribution for yesterday's bombing of ships by Iran. If it happens again, it will get much worse!" But protecting global shipping lanes is not the same as a defined American interest with a clear cost and an exit — the minimum standard before committing the nation to war.

Oil prices tell the story the establishment prefers to skip. Brent crude traded around $78 a barrel Thursday, up from roughly $72 before the conflict. Every dollar of increase is a tax on working Americans to fund a war they never voted for. The same defense contractors that profited from Iraq and Afghanistan are positioned to profit again.

Meanwhile, the bipartisan foreign policy machine keeps cutting deals elsewhere. Secretary of State Marco Rubio notified Congress that the administration plans to rescind Syria's state sponsor of terrorism designation, opening international trade for Syria's new government under Ahmed al-Sharaa, whom Trump met at the NATO summit in Turkey. The same officials escalating with Iran are normalizing with Syria. A memorandum of understanding signed in mid-June gave Washington and Tehran 60 days to negotiate a final deal. Those talks are now paused. Qatar is scrambling to mediate. No one in Washington is talking about bringing American forces home.

The question isn't whether Iran is an adversary. It's who profits from a war with no end in sight — and who pays.