A First Pass at Scoring the Iran War
Despite the battlefield success, the scale of Washington’s dysfunction has been on full display.
Listen to the Trump administration’s assessments of the war in Iran, and you could be forgiven for believing that Washington’s biggest adversary in the Middle East was at death’s door. When he’s not on Truth Social lobbing rhetorical grenades at what’s left of the I...
The strongest version of this narrative highlights the U.S. military’s tactical successes—degrading Iran’s missile capabilities and eliminating key leaders—while acknowledging the strategic missteps that echo past interventions. The article effectively contrasts the Trump administration’s triumphalist rhetoric with the persistent resilience of Iran’s regime and the unintended consequences of the war, such as economic disruption in Gulf states and the further delay of the U.S. pivot to Asia. It a...