Iran Has Had Enough Chances

After Operation Midnight Hammer obliterated Iran’s nuclear mountain and enriched high-grade uranium, it became clear that its navy, its air force and all its radar defenses, as well as most of its manufacturing capabilities for ballistics and drones, would be easy targets – but not forever.

Action had to be taken to exploit the window of opportunity. One important conclusion from all the hullabaloo: Non-U.S. air defenses are made of paper kitty-cats. The other conclusion is that you can’t trust the Iranians, who are now effectively the IRGC, on anything, certainly not in negotiations.

The original operation was supposed to end in the decapitation of the evil theocracy, regime replacement, an uprising by the people, and total unconditional surrender.

It has not done so completely, yet. Why is that? Did the U.S. cry “uncle”? Has Iran won? Are we still in the driver’s seat? Is Iranian IRGC leadership “scum,” as the President suggests, after they attacked yet more ships and failed to keep the promises made in the first MOU and all the rounds of fruitless negotiations since?

The ardent and bellicose neocons in the Administration told us that this was to be a 30-day simple exercise, decidedly not a war – Epic Fury once and for all demonstrating American prowess that would reinstall our hegemony as the sole superpower.

Insofar as pushing Tehran against the wall strangled the “shadow market” for discounted oil, it has been a resounding success – and the New Iran Deal floods a parched market with dollar-denominated barrels coming back to a proper price, guaranteeing the petrodollar’s perpetuation for another generation. Until the Straits are closed for a third or fifth time and more bombs drop and yet another round results in what? Wait and see is not a plan.

As outlined in the National Security Strategy and National Defense Strategy published by the Trump II Administration, “flexible realism” dictates a hands-off approach outside the main priorities (Western Hemisphere & Asia, in that order). Tehran’s tentacles in Venezuela and Spain are now seeing the light of day through the judicial systems of the federal courts, as well as with the recent arrest of former President Zapatero of Spain’s deeply corrupt Socialist party.

The anti-American Democrats, to a person (save Fetterman), have reacted more like Basijis or Obamaite appeasers. They sound like they want Iran to win much more than they sound like defenders of the US military. Their hatred of anything Trumpian has made them appear more like traitors to the cause and to our very nation and its economic vitality.

It is important to recount the ways in which Trump won here: firstly, imposing a filial succession on a revolutionary regime which defined itself against such systems of government is a big “point on the board.” One Ayatollah Khamenei was succeeded by another, his lesser son, who wasn’t even an Ayatollah and who only received that ecclesiastical title because of the ongoing emergency. Tehran may have avoided a full-on succession crisis, but Washington forced them to sacrifice major planks of their ideology in doing so and clarified where the real power lies. It remains unclear exactly who is in charge in Greater Persia. The IRGC seems to be calling most of the shots, and General Vahidi is the iron fist while the diplomats try to occasionally play nice.

Something similar has happened in the DC beltway, as many revealed themselves to be fair-weather friends (“sunshine soldiers,” as the founders called them 250 years ago). A good purge of party and administration officials seems in order.

People forget the “neocon” label is specific to a group of Trotskyists who wished to enlist America in service of the World Proletarian Revolution and were not particularly bothered about the USA. They came to America fleeing Stalin’s Great Purge, which surely means they didn’t learn their lesson about disloyalty the first time. Accusing President Trump of being suckered into action by Israel while his Intelligence Community leaked behind his back tells a very different story.

Peace through strength is achieved by refraining from overuse, just as much as establishing deterrence requires blasting and belligerence. The military point is made. We will find you and we will kill you. Resuming the kinetic exercise appears to be necessary to bring about a final result. Has Trump given diplomacy one try too many? Is it now time to finish the job?

Nobody was thinking about Iran’s medieval obscurantism in the terms atheistic communists see it, much less the prospect that provoking a US land invasion might finally bring about the Worker’s Paradise through the downfall of America’s Republic — the objective of undercover communists, including the “neocons.”

Yes, the Iranians have 47 years of experience in expertly stalling, lying, deceiving, and waiting out their adversaries. It appears that here we go again. But President Trump kept the engagement limited and probably saved the country (again) by doing so. He is teaching them now about the Art of the Deal and is still ready to bomb again as and when the need arises. He is demonstrating this daily. But tit for tat is not going to work. A deal is not in the making with this Shiite, lunatic, fascistic regime. The latest demands coming from that side make the point.

So why is this not really over for good? To be honest, trusting the deceptive Iranians, even with verification and IAEA inspections, gets us only so far. The Hormuz Straits are one matter. Pickaxe Mountain is another. We need a solution to both. Open the passage and end the nuclear gambit.

We are still the USA.

What we lack in will or staying power, we more than make up for in firepower. The lies about our munitions running low or running out are leftist rumormongering.

The price of gas shouldn’t temporarily deter us. It is, after all, a much bigger problem for every other country on earth, which can’t deny Tehran’s piratical strategy directly harms them. Assessing our assets and their deployment, our status and projection of power militarily, economically, and diplomatically, we can and should surely win this within the next sixty days and force a satisfactory closure and end to what is very much a war. This provides Trump another victory and a road to both economic prosperity with lowered gas prices, as well as an improved chance to win the midterm election.

In boxing, you either knock the opponent out or gain a technical knockout by the judge’s decision. Only one boxer ever wins. Tehran jumped outside the ropes and punched everyone they could reach. The Abraham Accords look like the best way out for everyone now that they’ve seen what Tehran is like and who it targets. Imagine how they’d behave with nukes.

Trump knows this intuitively. He is a fighter. Even after the assassin’s bullets in Butler, what words did he utter? This is no time to pussy out. History remembers only victors, and the spoils go in one direction. The lesson for other countries contemplating land invasions involving maritime troop deployments should be even clearer – Taiwan is safer now than it was before the war.

We have given peace a chance and exhausted all available alternatives to force – to a degree that none can call Washington the warmonger. Yet, no deal is better than a bad deal, as the President keeps saying. Keep choking them financially.

In the longer run, who cares about the Straits? You’d have to be a fool to ever buy from those ports again, especially with any inflated cost of tolling. The Saudis, Emirates, and Qatar are all now building alternative pipelines west to circumvent the Hormuz dilemma. Shut off the flow of oil and the sole source of their money. Take Kharg Island. Start a revolution. Unleash the Mossad. Finish what was started or prepare for a nuclear-armed Iran and a larger and constant round of proxy terrorism.

The stakes are indeed that high. Trump is close to winning but needs to remain vigilant, even in tedious negotiations with the devils, and his patience has doubtless worn thin.

The stakes remain enormous. A nuclear-armed Iran would transform the strategic landscape of the Middle East, intensify regional instability, and raise the risks of future conflict for decades.

On close observation, Trump is closer to achieving his objectives than many critics admit. He is doing what no other President has even attempted. But success will depend on vigilance, discipline, and a clear understanding that negotiations are only valuable when they produce lasting and durable results.

Force works where mere words fail.