UNITED STATES PERSPECTIVE

Fifteen Tehran residents, reached by phone by the New York Times, describe a capital under heavy bombardment: a mother huddled with her child in a bathroom, a 90-year-old patriarch wheeled into a hallway before windows shattered. The Washington Post confirms two aircraft were downed the same day -- an F-15E Strike Eagle over Iranian territory and an A-10 Warthog in the Gulf -- with two Black Hawk rescue helicopters also hit. CBS national security analyst Aaron MacLean notes the F-15 was likely conducting ground strikes: pilots carry only a sidearm for defense. Trump brushed off the incident to NBC: 'No, not at all. No, it's war.' This casual tone contrasts with the severity: the first loss of a US combat aircraft to enemy fire since Iraq in 2003. The American media apparatus oscillates between the heroic rescue narrative and the political question nobody asks head-on -- how long a president can wage war under executive authority alone without returning to Congress, especially with midterms approaching.