We Won: It's Time for Trump to Declare Victory in Iran and Leave the Region
Like most conservatives, I have supported President Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran since the beginning, and it was no surprise to me that they quickly achieved exactly what was promised.
The Pentagon decimated Iran’s nuclear program, crippled its key military infrastructure, killed its most important leaders, and weakened the fanatical regime’s ability to threaten its neighbors for the foreseeable future.
After years of warnings, red lines, and empty threats from other American leaders, Iran finally learned that there are real consequences for being a terror state.
Now, Trump wants to end the conflict with a perfect deal, and that is understandable for a man known for making deals.
The problem is that Iran’s leaders have spent decades proving they are experts at dragging out negotiations and acting in bad faith. I don’t think the ongoing negotiations are any different.
As of now, it looks like what is left of Tehran’s leadership is playing the same old games, and enough is enough.
Rather than spending more time chasing a perfect agreement, Trump should spend one final week systematically destroying whatever remains of Iran’s ability to threaten the region.
During that final week, the best military in the world should focus on eliminating whatever military capabilities Iran still has left.
Any remaining missile sites, military headquarters, weapons factories, air defense systems, and facilities connected to rebuilding Iran’s military and nuclear program should be destroyed.
The goal should be to leave the regime with as little ability as possible to reboot once America largely leaves the region.
Civilian targets should remain mostly off limits. The goal is not to punish the Iranian people. The goal is to make sure Tehran leaves this conflict with as few tools as possible.
After that week of bombing is complete, America should declare victory and bring most of its assets home.
The biggest question is what to do about Hormuz.
For decades, Iran has used the Strait of Hormuz as a threat hanging over the world’s energy supply.
The answer is not to keep an armada of American forces in the region forever. The answer is to make Hormuz matter less.
Trump should immediately pursue a Gulf Pipeline Pact with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, and Oman.
The goal would be to expand enough pipeline infrastructure that Gulf oil and natural gas can reach world markets without relying so heavily on a narrow waterway that Iran can threaten at any moment.
The Gulf states have the money to do this, and they have the most to gain from doing it.
A non-nuclear Iran can still threaten shipping in Hormuz. What it should not be able to do is use that waterway to hold the global economy hostage.
The long-term solution is to make the Strait less relevant with every new pipeline that gets built.
A successful Gulf Pipeline Pact would not eliminate the need for the Strait overnight, but it would steadily reduce its strategic importance year after year.
Over time, Iran’s greatest source of leverage would become far less valuable.
The enriched uranium question is even easier.
We should entrust monitoring it to the Israelis.
No country has a greater interest in preventing an Iranian nuclear weapon. No other U.S. ally possesses better intelligence capabilities when it comes to monitoring Iranian military and nuclear activity.
Israel can handle the day-to-day tracking of Iran’s enriched uranium, and the Pentagon can assist when needed.
In any event, at some point, victory over Iran has to be recognized.
Iran is weaker, its military has been destroyed, and its nuclear ambitions have been pushed back years, if not longer.
Trump asked for time, and he used that time wisely.
He achieved the goals that justified Operation Epic Fury, and he should not allow the absence of a perfect agreement to become an excuse for keeping America tied to the region any longer.
We’ve won, folks.
It’s time to pop the champagne, bring our assets home, and move on to the next challenge.
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