Yes, This Is Your War, Too

It’s understandable that America’s NATO allies — bullied, disparaged and threatened by President Trump — hardly want to lift a finger to help the United States and Israel in their war in Iran.

It’s understandable that congressional Democrats — barely briefed and entirely unconsulted — are skeptical of a war the president describes as a mere “excursion,” and seek a partisan windfall in a strategic failure.

It’s understandable that everyday Americans — having been told by Trump that Iran’s nuclear program had already been “obliterated” last June — wonder why they’re paying $4 a gallon to obliterate it once again.

Understandable but misguided. Even the most vociferous opponents of the war have a stake in a military result that leaves the regime in Tehran unable to terrorize its region, the world and, hopefully sooner than later, its own people.

Getting some of those opponents to see the point may be the intent behind Trump’s reported musing to his aides that he may be willing to end the war without using force to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The president “decided that the U.S. should achieve its main goals of hobbling Iran’s navy and its missile stocks and wind down current hostilities while pressuring Tehran diplomatically to resume the free flow of trade,” The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. “If that fails, Washington would press allies in Europe and the Gulf to take the lead on reopening the strait.”

Maybe Trump is bluffing, to get more international support to open the strait. Or maybe (more likely) he’s flying by the seat of his pants. Either way, ending the war before retaking the strait would be a mistake for many reasons, even if it allowed the administration to wind down military operations in the next week or two.

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Bret Stephens is an Opinion columnist for The Times, writing about foreign policy, domestic politics and cultural issues. Facebook

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