Please explain to us how the Gulf States, the Iranian people, and world oil markets are going to be better off. We have decapitated the Iranian leadership, only to see a head grow back that will be just as radical, if not more so.

We have given Iran the opportunity to demonstrate that they can, in fact, effectively close the Straight of Hormuz, even in a severely weakened state. We have doubled or tripled (depending on who you talk to) Iranian oil revenues vs pre-war. The Iranians may yet try and charge tolls for traffic passing through the straight. They have not, and most likely will not agree to a nuclear inspection regime on the ground. Do you think some of their newfound revenues just might be used to restart their nuclear program? That money will certainly be used to replenish their stocks of missiles, drones, and mines.

We have demonstrated to Iran & every other rogue nation on the planet that it is in their best interest to develop nuclear weapons as quickly as possible, lest their leadership suffer the same fate as the Ayatollah, or Maduro, or whoever we decide we don’t like this week. The worst possible outcome here was allowing the regime in Iran to survive and rebuild which is exactly the direction we are headed.

The regime in Iran was never going to collapse à la Venezuela & the American people were never going to have the stomach for actual regime change in Iran. I guarantee you that at least some of the president’s advisors know this. If we value our way of life, we should start insisting that he listen to them.