It’s time to bring the business in Iran to an end.
A person sits in shallow water as cargo and commercial vessels are anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, June 8, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)
Something has to give in Iran. I believe that it was President Trump himself who said we are being “tapped along” by whomever it is who is calling the shots in that beleaguered country.
Tapping the west along is a well-worn tactic for the criminal theocrats who run Iran. They have been doing it for nearly half a century. Tapping the Obama administration along got them an airlift of pallets of euros and Swiss francs to the tune of the equivalent of about $400 million courtesy of the United States Air Force. Part of that deal was that Iran would curtail its enrichment of uranium. They did no such thing.
So, we can’t be tapped along. This thing needs to come to an acceptable conclusion.
Iran wasn’t always the theocratically-controlled despotic hellhole that it is now. Throughout history Iran was known as Persia. It was only in 1935 that Reza Shah Pahlavi, then the country’s ruler (and the father of the Shah of Iran that we all remember from 1979), asked governments around the world to start calling the country Iran.
Unlike the dark, totalitarian misery that is today’s Iran, Persia was an enlightened, accomplished society. We can credit Persia with modern algebra and the word, “algorithm.” Ancient Persia was the home of astronomer, mathematician and poet Omar Khayyam (“A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread – and Thou”).
Perhaps as much as any society, it was Persia that showed the world how to govern a large, diverse civilization through administration, infrastructure, tolerance, and cultural sophistication rather than through oppressive coercion.
All to say that the 90 million people who live in Iran today are the heirs of a rich, vibrant culture that has been suppressed by the theocratic thugs who took over the country in 1979.
President Trump is therefore reluctant to reduce the country to a pile of smoking rubble, though he can easily do so. Reducing Iran to the levels of devastation visited upon Europe in World War II would certainly neutralize the threat that Iran has posed to the civilized world for nearly 50 years. But it would simultaneously impoverish the Iranian people for a generation or more and perhaps create the circumstance for the rise of a regime that’s even worse than the one we have now.
But it may come to that whether we and President Trump like it or not. For the sake of the developed world on the macro level, and for the sake of our own domestic politics on the micro level, we must bring the business in Iran to an end.
The threat it has posed for nearly a half century must be decisively neutralized and the Strait of Hormuz must be open to the free passage of maritime commerce. Prior administrations going back to Jimmy Carter have been “tapped along” by Iran. But we can be tapped along no longer.
A decisive outcome in Iran may come at a horrendously painful price. But whatever the price, it must be paid.
And right soon.
I AM with you 100% it’s like pulling a deeply stuck band-aid off a very tender wound. Better to jerk quickly rather than extend the pain. FINISH THE JOB. these “thugs” will not comply until the pain is beyond their capability to endure and will never give in. God through Moses had to do the same thing until Pharoah reached the breaking point. Please use your influence with our congressman to get this thru to President Trump. FINISH THE JOB – DO NOT STOP THE BOMBING UNTIL THEY CRY ENOUGH -COME GET THE URANIUM !!!
The Lord did not have to contend with democrats and weak-kneed republicans. Nor did He have to deal with activist judges, a lying media, facebook, twitter, the ignorant ladies of the VIEW and so on. Not to mention several generations of uneducated, functionally illiterate, and intellectually compromised voters thanks to the government (aka public) schools. Lets continue to hurt the Iranian economy by controlling the Straights of Hormuz, which for all practical purposes we do. Take any oil they try to export, and use this to power our economy, keep the price of gas and diesel low, which should insure a GOP landslide this fall), and PUNISH our so-called NATO allies. Pres. Truman was asked by journalist David Suskind in the 1960’s what the solution would be for the USSR. Truman said he did not know what exactly it would be, but the solution would come from INSIDE the USSR. Same principal applies here in my opinion. Bomb hard when necessary but keep the economic and diplomatic pressure on the IRGC. They are the ones calling the shots, not the mullahs. This approach worked in the late 1980’s with the Strategic Defense Initiative and the USSR collapsed. Both Reagan and Trump have shown that the US economy can be a huge weapon if used correctly.
The bombs must fall
Citing discussions and approvals by all the parties involved, President Trump has canceled planned strikes and bombings against Iran. Most think this is really the end of the war. Time will tell.
Well said, as usual. Iran is a bully. Bullies only understand brute force delivered by someone who isn’t impressed by their chest pounding. I’m sick of wasting time and energy lending credence to people who are not credible. They don’t negotiate in good faith, and that’s undeniable. It’s time for the 8th Tier Mullah. Or are we on 9th.
Trump has experience negotiating deals with parties that are less than truthful about their intentions. Our government is full of the same type of people. The true test lies in allowing the bested side to come away from the negotiation feeling good about their own deal. The IRGC must save face and appear strong among their circles. If they can achieve ANY of their demands now I think they would consider it a win. As more of the other countries tire of the ruthless Iranians, more pressure will come for them to finally stop the crap. A scolded child will usually act out in rebellion. Iran is flirting with getting a good spanking 50 years in the making.
Yes, it is time for this to be over. That is the only thing about this that my husband and I agree on. Needless to say, it is better for us to talk about something else. Actually, none of us have the magic answer on how that can happen. This enemy of the world doesn’t think like a rational human does. Heck, they can’t even rationalize with each other. This “evil mind seed” they all are cursed with took root way back in the garden.
So, here is my opinion on this situation. I don’t have an answer on what the President should do. But I do know he is the best man on this earth to handle this. President Trump is fighting this war with his mind and his heart. The war being fought from his mind is the physical battle. He has known for years this time had to come. Didn’t we see videos of him back in the 1980’s where he talked about this. He has gathered his leaders and his troops for this time. And a fine job he and his Secretary of War have done.
Finally, the war in his heart. He has such a love for people. I have heard him talk about all the young soldiers being slaughtered in the battlefields of Ukraine. He says these are souls lost. Not just casualties, souls! Losing their lives, people losing their homes, land destroyed, and food and jobs and a normal life burned to the ground. He grieves over this. If he cared only about the accolades of men he would not have gone through this hell he and his family have suffered.
In closing, I trust in this Leader God has given us. I trust he uses all the information he is given to make the best decisions, I trust he always has the “souls” of this earth in his heart of hearts, and I trust he will always stay focused on his mission. Iran must never have nuclear weapons.
We all want this to be over and I pray it is soon.
P.S. Ken Hale – I love your analogy about the band aid. I love a good analogy!
On April 7th I wrote the following in my weekly email to 24,000+ customers on our company’s mailing list:
“My only experience fighting a war is limited to having played board games while in college. My chief opponent was my longtime best friend. We were both in college at the time, attending Arlington State College, which in later years would become the University of Texas at Arlington.
Howard and I and other friends played Stratego, Dogfight, Battle Cry, and Risk when our available game time was limited, and we switched to more sophisticated and time-consuming games such as Avalon Hills’ Diplomacy when on a weekend our gaming sometimes turned into all-night sessions.
Those long-ago wargaming experiences, supplemented over the years by exposure to any number of books concerning military history, together represent my perspective on such matters as war and peace. So now I, as qualified as the typical talking head news commentators, address the subject at hand, i.e., what next are we to do with regard to Iran, and more specifically, the Strait of Hormuz.
So, my recommendation to President Trump is to pursue the following strategy:
● No boots on the ground in Iran.
● Continue the destruction by air of Iran’s military infrastructure.
● To the extent possible, avoid destruction of civil and oil infrastructure.
● In the event that the current Iranian leaders continue to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, which they almost certainly will, make no effort to open the waterway.
● Rather, turn such efforts over to the countries most affected by the closure, while providing air cover for those nations that previously provided us bases of operation.
● Station the U.S. Navy in the Arabian Sea, beyond the range of Iranian drones, but near enough to the Strait of Hormuz, so as to intercept any and all oil tankers carrying Iranian oil, all such being impounded and the oil sold on behalf of the Iranian people at the point they become a free nation.
● Encourage those Middle Eastern nations most distressed by the current Iranian thug-state to put their own boots on the ground by advancing into Iran at the edges, establishing beachheads backed by American airpower, where they could train, equip, and arm the vast majority of Iranians, who see themselves as Persians rather than Arab, in the want no part of their current government. Here begins the transition to a new regime that doesn’t murder strangers and even thousands of its own people, a transition to a free, enlightened Iran brought into the modern world where the Iranian people can again prosper and shine among nations.
At great expense, the United States of America and her war fighters have done yeoman’s work in this all too necessary war with Iran’s mullahs. The monster has been defined. Their nightmare-dream of destroying Israel and ultimately the West in an atomic holocaust is over. Their production of more and bigger rockets and drones is at an end, with what little remains being blasted from the face of the earth, never to return.
Pres. Donald Trump has done what past presidents didn’t do.
It remains to be seen what other nations will do to stand with the United States, Israel, and the other Middle Eastern nations, all of whom remain engaged in the all too necessary war with the mad mullahs of Iran.”
All I can say is…Remember PEARL HARBOR! You are NEVER going to appease Iran. If you keep trying to get along with them you might see a sea of Iranian War planes like Pearl Harbor only in multiple cities this time! IRAN will say anything to throw you off. It didn’t take long for Japan to figure out AMERICA wasn’t fooling around! The PAST will tell you what needs to be done if you will listen to the message! Remember this…Biden allowed “weather” balloons to fly across the US. What critical information was found out? Were you even aware of this being done…WHO ALLOWED IT?
We only need look back to World War II Japan and their culture of Bushido. As it is in Iran today, not all citizens are ingrained with the radical Islamic code, neither were the entire population of Japan to Bushido (the code of the warrior) in WWII. But, there are enough in Iran to make any savvy military planner know that all those who are; the hardliners and true believers, will not simply give up even when bombed back to the stone age. It was proven that radical cultures must be dealt such a savage, merciless blow that even they will lose the will to continue hostilities a.k.a the two nuclear bombs dropped on Japan. That broke their will to resist and further the war. A culture change of that magnitude; as Iran had planned for Israel and us, might be the only solution to really end the IRGC or the radical Mullah’s will to keep cheating, lying, and dragging this thing out. I for one wished the President had not stopped destroying their infrastructure or their leadership nor their puny navy boats they have left.
These people cannot be dealt with honestly or fairly. They only understand destruction and death; give it to them. We have those massive bombs call “Daisy Cutters” that have incredible destructive power (we used one in Afghanistan. It brought results). Drop a few of those on key cities and military bases and see what happens. It just might further things along.
To Ken Hale, Dr. William Johnson, Dang Vorbei, Darrell Durham, Buddy Sanders, Linda E. Montrose, & Mike
Kudos to all of you for your great comments and information on Paul’s opinion piece. I honor and respect all of you for your commitments to our great country. Yes, it is obvious that you are all great Americans. Thank you all for using your power of freedom to discuss…………