India, March 4 -- Typical of an unconventional presidency, the Trump administration waited more than 48 hours to make any live, public communication to the American people about why it had decided to go to war with Iran.

President Donald Trump discussed why he launched the attack prior to a White House ceremony honouring military heroes but took no questions from reporters. Earlier in the day, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine briefed journalists at the Pentagon.

The two days previous, Trump delivered two pretaped statements that were released on Truth Social, the social media site owned by the president's media company, and granted telephone interviews to more than a dozen journalists - several...