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Commentary
Wall Street Journal

A Realistic Look at the Iran War

It isn’t as easy as Trump expected, but don’t assume the US has already lost.
 

walter_russell_mead
walter_russell_mead
Ravenel B. Curry III Distinguished Fellow in Strategy and Statesmanship
Walter Russell Mead
A sculpture overlooks the Strait of Hormuz in the port city of Bandar Abbas, Iran, on August 10, 2026. (Getty Images)
Caption
A sculpture overlooks the Strait of Hormuz in the port city of Bandar Abbas, Iran, on August 10, 2026. (Getty Images)

What President Trump initially heralded as a “four to five weeks” war against Iran entered its seventh month Saturday. Far from winding down, the war intensified over the past few days.

From the serene heights of the foreign-policy establishment to the fever swamps of the online left and right, a consensus has emerged. The war is a disaster, the American equivalent of Britain’s humiliating defeat in the 1956 Suez crisis. American power can never recover in the Middle East, and Mr. Trump has suffered the greatest embarrassment of his career.

Read in the Wall Street Journal.