yous mean they thought they could get away with the ends justifying

After initially supporting the US and Israeli strikes against Iran in the hopes this would be a short, sharp operation, the prime minister and foreign minister have spent the past few weeks calling for “de-escalation”. In a coordinated move, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has gone even further this week. He’s bluntly calling on Trump to end this war.

the means if it was short, but they suddenly couldn’t