The United States’ security interests in Iran do not justify direct American involvement in the ongoing war between the Islamic Republic and Israel, and specifically do not justify the direct attack on an Iranian nuclear facility the Israeli government wants.

President Donald Trump must keep his campaign promise to be a peace president, which was one of the most important planks of his platform for millions of voters; recognize the serious danger to American interests and international stability from U.S. intervention; accept the need for Congressional approval; and reject calls to deploy American soldiers and materiel inside Iran.

Iran is an ideological and geopolitical adversary of the United States and the primary threat to the security of one of America’s allies, Israel. It has consistently overstepped international sanctions on its nuclear technology. But these do not add up to a warrant to use military force, which would very likely further destabilize a region whose security and order already rests on a knife’s edge.

Most importantly, Trump’s handpicked Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, reported to Congress just three months ago that the U.S. intelligence community “continues to assess Iran is not building a nuclear weapon.” The president’s blithe dismissal of Gabbard’s report early on Tuesday morning — “I don’t care what she said. I think they were very close to having it” — evokes the worst of the Bush administration, which ran roughshod over intelligence that called into question its own case for war in Iraq. We know the result.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to use force to set back Iran’s nuclear ambitions, arguing that the nation is close to creating a nuclear weapon. In a series of attacks on June 13, Israel hit several nuclear sites and killed several members of the Islamic Republic’s military leadership. While a few of Iran’s retaliatory strikes have penetrated Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, the nation has proven incapable of effectively responding or of defending itself.

In other words, Israel has proven perfectly capable of pursuing its war aims and geopolitical interests — which are its own, and not the same as those of the United States.

The only capability Israel does not have is penetrating Iran’s deep-underground Fordo nuclear site. For that, it needs America’s BBU-57 “bunker buster” bomb and the B-2 stealth bomber that can deliver it. The cost in terms of risk to American assets and personnel in the Middle East and the overall stability of the region — and the real possibility of provoking Iran to extreme action or pulling America into a wider war — is too high. Remember: it is the consensus opinion of the U.S. intelligence community that Iran is not using these sites to pursue a nuclear weapon.

Some in Israel and America are seeking regime change in Iran. This is profoundly foolish. The Ayatollah’s regime in Tehran is oppressive and offensive to Western liberal values, but the power vacuum that would result from its collapse would be incredibly destabilizing to the region. And whatever replaces it is at least as likely as not to be worse. America has — see Afghanistan and Iraq — a poor track record in these efforts.

Furthermore, any direct U.S. involvement would only be legitimate if it were approved by Congress, as required by the Constitution. Recent presidents have chipped away at or circumvented Congress’s war-declaration powers, with poor results. Doing so here would be a particular betrayal for Trump, whose opposition to the 2003 Iraq War was a tentpole of his political movement in 2016.

Deploying U.S. forces in a direct assault on Iran would betray one of Trump’s few consistent political principles; would not advance U.S. interests to a degree commensurate with the risks; and would be illegal without Congressional authorization. The president must stand down.

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