The Iran War at the Crossroads › American Greatness
Victor Davis Hanson
We are now in Stage III of the Iran War: the familiar monotony of bomb, talk, bomb.
It is now the liberal consensus that the war has failed, if not been won by Iran.
Hardly. It will likely take a decade for Iran to recover and rearm.
Russia has been sidelined in the Middle East. China is losing its influence with the Iranian theocracy. Nor is Beijing riding high; instead, it is grappling with trade, demographic, energy, and food challenges.
The Gulf states are more pro-American than they have been in decades.
Israel is stronger than ever and has humiliated an enemy that, for nearly 50 years, remained on a war footing while enjoying a population ten times larger.
But what’s next?
We could be entering the war’s final stage, marked by an effort to escalate decisively before disengaging.
We know the tired Iranian strategy by now. We might call it “theocratic rope-a-dope.” For the theocrats and their terrorist proxies, survival means outlasting Trump, waiting for the next cash-laden Democratic administration, and using “moderates” to play good cop while haggling away months.
more
https://amgreatness.com/2026/07/30/the-iran-war-at-the-crossroads/
