“We are on track to complete all of America’s military objectives shortly,” President Donald Trump said in his televised address to the nation this past Wednesday, his first since Operation Epic Fury began on Feb. 28.
“We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks.”
“In the meantime,” he added, “discussions are ongoing.” “If there is no deal,” he threatened to bomb Iran “back to the Stone Ages, where they belong.” Yabba-Dabba-Doo!
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump suggested that Iran’s new leader wants a cease-fire, though what’s left of the Iranian government has denied it.
Whether there is a “deal” out there or not, the fate of Iran’s regime must be the “Stone Ages.”
Looking for a negotiated off-ramp is undoubtedly tempting for Trump. As the midterm elections loom in November, the latest polls show that two-thirds of Americans “strongly” or “somewhat” disapprove of his war with Iran.
Despite US energy independence, markets are sensitive to even the gentlest ripple in the waters of the Persian Gulf.
When Trump suggests hostilities will end soon, as he did early last week, US stocks rally and oil prices drop. When he sounds more belligerent, as he did later in the week, markets jitter while oil rises.
Average US gas prices have passed $4 per gallon — still much less than their peak under Biden, when, notably, there was no war with Iran — but higher than they had been recently, with the potential to derail an economy that many already feel is suffering an “affordability crisis.”
As Trump contemplates his next move, which he says could involve the total destruction of Iran’s electrical plants and oil facilities, however, he must bear constantly in mind that these phenomena are temporary and that the real danger — for him, our country, and the world — is to let the mullahs and their murderous regime go on.
Holed up underground, desperate not to be blown to bits, and terrified of its own people, Iran’s remaining leadership will, assuming they are willing to negotiate, say anything to make the bombing stop.
But no matter what the mullahs may agree to in some worthless paper guarantee or through shifty intermediaries in Pakistan, they know they will still hold enormous asymmetrical power to damage Trump, his political prospects, and American interests. Under no circumstances should Trump give them even a whiff of that.
After weeks of relentless US and Israeli air strikes, Iran continues to launch enough drones and missiles to scare most shipping away from the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway through which about 20% of the global oil trade flows. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, it still has enough enriched uranium tucked away to develop ten nuclear bombs.
The same Islamist leaders have been killing Americans, sponsoring global terrorism, and calling for “Death to America” for 47 years. Even if they sign a peace deal to survive now, their goals will remain the same.
Like the North Vietnamese half a century ago, they are very well aware that they can win this just by not losing. Trump, however, could lose by not winning.
Inflicting complete defeat on Iran — even forcing the “unconditional surrender” Trump sought earlier in the conflict — is well within the president’s power. Some Iranian sources already admit that the continuing decimation of the country’s leadership is already fragmenting command-and-control networks and could bring the regime to its knees, especially if the electricity and oil facilities are obliterated.
Even if that operation involves tracking down every remaining leader down to the last assistant janitor at the Assembly of Experts, the outcome would still be better than leaving in place an embittered remnant of Islamist thugs bent on our destruction.
With total air superiority, adequate naval deployments, and, possibly, the occupation of strategic land positions, Hormuz can be opened just as President Reagan did in the 1980s, including with the international help some allies are now offering.
Eliminating Iran’s nuclear potential has been a consistent objective of the war.
As the recent economic volatility suggests, if Trump makes good on his promise to act decisively and soon, markets will surge, oil prices will drop to normal levels or lower, and Iran’s de-nuclearization will be assured. But if he strikes a deal, it is likely that none of these things will happen.
In the seven months to go before the midterms, his “excursion” in Iran could soon become a matter for the history books instead of a majority-losing issue at the ballot box. But for that to happen, the mullahs must be destroyed.
Paul du Quenoy is President of the Palm Beach Freedom Institute.
