For years, the Iranian regime has tested the patience of the free world. It has armed proxies, funded terrorism, threatened its neighbors, and repeatedly escalated conflicts across the Middle East. Yet even now, President Donald Trump appears to be offering one final opportunity before a far more devastating phase begins.

This is not weakness. It is restraint.

Before bridges are destroyed, before power stations are targeted, and before military objectives become broader targets, Trump is giving the Iranian people one last chance. A genuine democracy understands that governments and citizens are not always the same. Just as Israel has repeatedly distinguished between the people of Lebanon and Hezbollah, Trump appears determined to distinguish between the Iranian people and the regime that rules them.

But there is a limit to every nation’s patience.

There comes a moment when repeated aggression, threats, and attacks bring even the most patient democracies to the edge.

The Iranians invented the game of chess. For centuries, Persia was known for strategy and patience. Donald Trump built his reputation on something different: negotiation.

Anyone who has read Donald Trump’s book The Art of the Deal understands a simple principle. Trump may negotiate longer than his........

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