But Ms. Cheney’s criticism, which has been picked up by other right-wing commentators, overlooks important differences between Mr. Trump’s decision and that of his predecessor — differences that underscore how Mr. Trump’s foreign policy still remains, to some extent, the antithesis of Mr. Obama’s.

Mr. Obama abruptly pulled back from his planned missile strike on Syria in August 2013 to seek congressional approval for military action, which he believed he would need for potential later operations, perhaps including against Iran. He watched with alarm as an ally, Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain, went down to defeat in Parliament when he put the operation to a vote.

The Trump administration and its allies have offered varying explanations for why the president blinked, none of which hinge on getting buy-in from the legislative branch. Mr. Trump himself said he called off the strike after one of his generals told him that even a limited missile strike could kill 150 people — a disproportionate response to Iran’s shooting down of an unmanned American drone.

Jack Keane, a retired Army general with close ties to the president, said the White House had intelligence that Iran’s leaders viewed the attack on the drone as a mistake. While that was not the main reason Mr. Trump canceled the attack, it contributed to his view that a military response would be an error.

“Mistakes get made,” Mr. Keane said. “The Iranians are frustrated and furious with what happened.”

Given that, the better historic analogy for Mr. Trump’s decision might be President Bill Clinton’s last-minute decision in November 1998 to halt a missile strike on Iraq to punish it for refusing to cooperate with United Nations’ weapons inspectors. Mr. Clinton acted after receiving letters from Iraqi officials, assuring him that Iraq would reverse itself and cooperate with the inspectors.