More than 2,300 years after Alexander the Great is said to have confronted the Gordian Knot while pursuing the Persian Empire, President Trump and his administration face their own conundrum in Iran. Mr. Trump is caught between political constraints that prevent using adequate military force to change Tehran’s behavior and a defiant regime willing to risk severe economic pain to rebuff Washington’s demands.
The White House seems to have settled on a campaign of economic pressure, a pause of sorts until after the Nov. 3 U.S. midterm elections or the new year. The risk is that such a containment policy could ossify into a stalemate that the regime will claim as a win. After defying America’s dictates, Tehran would end up with de facto control of the Strait of Hormuz and its axis of resistance, while diminished, still potent in the Shiite Crescent.