Opinion

MORNING GLORY: America is winning its battle with Iran. It’s only a matter of time

Victory will only be achieved when the Islamic Republic is forced to accept reality

By Hugh Hewitt Fox News

Published July 21, 2026 5:00am EDT

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US hits Iran after troops killed in Jordan, Iraq; Trump reacts

The U.S. has launched strikes on Iranian targets following attacks that killed three American service members in Jordan and Iraq.

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In the four months and three weeks since combat began with Iran, the United States has lost 17 or 18 of its warriors (with three or four killed over last weekend), with more than 420 others wounded.

Sixty Israelis have been killed. More than 100 Iraqis have died as a result of the conflict. Our allies in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have all suffered civilian deaths and every country in the region has taken significant damage to its infrastructure.

Iran has suffered military deaths in the thousands with many hundreds of civilians killed as well. The toll on the country’s infrastructure is massive — exponentially larger than that which it has inflicted on its neighbors in the region — with the highest estimates in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Iran’s conventional military has been shattered. Its missile and drone forces have been significantly damaged or expended. It is far, however, from being out of ordnance with which to threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz or its neighbors.

US SERVICE MEMBER KILLED IN IRAQ AS TROOPS RECOVER UNIDENTIFIED REMAINS IN JORDAN: CENTCOM

Iran has avoided striking Israel during the most recent 10 days of combat as it fears the response of the Israeli Defense Forces. That is deterrence restored. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard is afraid to strike the Jewish State. Now it must be made afraid to shoot at Americans or at its Arab neighbors or international shipping.

People stand on a bridge destroyed after a strike in Hormozgan province, southern Iran, Saturday, July 18, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/Iranian Students' News Agency via AP)

The rump regime that remains appears to be a military dictatorship led by the 68-year-old commander-in-chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Ahmad Vahidi, who came out of retirement to lead the military dictatorship after the opening strike on Iranian leaders killed scores of leading officials in the country.

The "official" successor to the killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is........

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