Iran Military and Police Going Unpaid
David Strom 1:00 PM | April 22, 2026
It's hard to say whether or not Trump is prepared to restart kinetic action against Iran, or continue his indefinite cease-fire...indefinitely.
No doubt Trump likes it that way. While I hate that every time a security studies guy or gal talks about military action, they always quote Clausewitz or Sun Tzu, I have to say that Trump is the most Clausewitzian and Sun Tzu-style military leader we have had in a long while.
By that I mean that Trump understands that war is an extension of politics, and that military success relies as much on deception as good tactics.
I know that sounds odd, given the nearly universal criticisms of Trump's Iran war, but if I am reading his strategy correctly, he is continuing his longstanding policy of keeping your enemies guessing and looking in the wrong direction. He did it well in the first strikes against Iran's nuclear sites, and the military successes of Operation Epic Fury at the outset of the war depended on keeping Iranian leaders off guard.
That's why it is so hard to predict Trump's next moves on the military front, and his Clausewitzian side is what is driving his current strategy of maximum pressure through the blockade and his attempts to negotiate. Non-kinetic politics, with a potential recourse to going kinetic again.
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https://hotair.com/david-strom/2026/04/22/iran-military-and-police-going-unpaid-n3814176