The Cost of Hesitation: Why “Finishing the Mission” is Imperative in Iran
Rep. Sheri Biggs
March 31, 2026
The Cost of Hesitation: Why “Finishing the Mission” is Imperative in Iran
Editor’s Note: War on the Rocks is running “for” and “against” articles on the war with Iran by legislators with military backgrounds. You can find the other article here.
The view from a C-130 during a combat mission in the Middle East provides clarity that is often lost in the sanitized briefing rooms of Washington. As an Air Force medical crew director, I have looked into the eyes of young servicemembers being medevacked out of theater, and I lived through what decades of strategic inconsistency asks of our warfighters. As a board-certified psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, I am equally attuned to a different kind of trauma: the deep-seated moral injury that occurs when those sacrifices are rendered all for naught by a leadership that lacks the resolve to finish the mission. Today, as Operations Epic Fury and Roaring Lion unfold to dismantle Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities, we are at a crossroads that demands the strategic courage to see this through to its conclusion.
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For nearly 50 years, the Iranian regime has operated as a destabilizing force — exporting terror through proxies and aggressively pursuing a nuclear threshold that would forever alter global security. As someone who has served overseas, I have witnessed strategic failures that stem from half-measures and “mowing the lawn” in the Middle East. Strategic indecision does not just embolden our adversaries, it actively degrades the morale and mental health of our fighting force. When our men and women are deployed into harm’s way for objectives that are later abandoned or left unfinished, the psychological toll is compounded. A servicemember’s mental health is tied to a sense of purpose. If the mission is not finished, the trauma of combat is amplified by a sense of betrayal by the leadership who sent them there. This is why I believe we must do whatever it takes to finish the mission in Iran. While boots on the ground is a scenario everyone wishes to avoid, we must be clear-eyed: If that is what it takes to permanently eliminate the threat of a nuclear-armed Tehran, then that is what we must do.
My support for this decisive action is rooted in my legislative record and my work on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. I have consistently voted for a maximum-pressure campaign, including supporting H.R. 1800, the Solidify Iran Sanctions Act of 2025, and H.R. 1422, the Enhanced Iran Sanctions Act of 2025. These measures were essential, but sanctions alone have proven insufficient when dealing with a regime that hides its progress towards nuclear enrichment capabilities from the world. Prior to the current operations, reports indicated that Iran possessed over 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent, a dangerously short step from weapons-grade levels. Furthermore, the International Atomic Energy Agency has been repeatedly blocked from verifying the status of multiple nuclear facilities. When diplomacy and economic pressure are met with deception, the only remaining path to peace is through strength.
https://warontherocks.com/2026/03/the-cost-of-hesitation-why-finishing-the-mission-is-imperative-in-iran/
