Mr. President, Get Iran Right!

“There is a rank due to the United States, among nations, which will be withheld, if not absolutely lost, by the reputation of weakness. If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known that we are at all times ready for war.” —George Washington (1793)

A note from Mark Alexander: There has been much opining about Iran over the last year — most of it from armchair politicians and their Beltway echo-chamber media experts. The analysis below by my colleague, GEN B.B. Bell (USA Ret.), is as qualified as you will get outside the Situation Room. B.B. is standing watch for me as I take a much-needed day off, and I’m running his analysis in my column slot to ensure our readers at the White House get the message. When discussing his criticism of Donald Trump’s strategic policy with Iran, which has vacillated over the last 10 weeks, we both acknowledge that this is a complex adversary and that elements of this strategy are above our pay grade. But the optics are terrible, and both the national security and political implications are dire. Trump’s rope-a-dope dealmaking strategy, the latest chapter being his declaration that the ceasefire with Iran is over, has produced no lasting results. As I noted in “The Real Iran Deal,” there is a risk that Trump’s clear national security imperative — preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapon capabilities — will be compromised by political and economic imperatives. And that is apparently the case. Domestic politics and economics inevitably influence public opinion in any national security strategy, but they should not take precedence over such strategy when the alternative is the very real threat of a catastrophic attack on our nation.

Mr. President:

Sir, the last time I checked, we are the United States of America. We are the world’s largest economy, and, as you note, we have the most powerful military on the planet. As a nation, our presidents have assiduously led us and protected our real national security interests since our Declaration of Independence and Constitution were ratified. When our true vital national security interests have been threatened, our courageous presidents have stood and delivered for us.

Iran is a nation led by radical Shia Islamic extremists who have repeatedly pledged, articulated, and boasted that the Great Satan is the United States of America and that their mission on earth from Allah is to destroy us. The constant and declaratory chant “Death to America” is essentially their national motto, and they’ve repeated and broadcast it by way of mass crowds and electronic global communication literally thousands of times over their years of power in Iran. It is their constant and deeply sincere drumbeat. They’re not kidding!

Overall, Iran is a poorly led country with a faltering economy. Nonetheless, it does have enormous oil reserves. With that oil, the Iranians became cash-rich with plenty of money to fund their internal security army, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), build their nuclear and missile program, and fund their proxy anti-West networks. By their hands and through their proxies, over the decades, they’ve killed over a thousand American servicemembers who were serving our interests in the Middle East and Southwest Asia. They’ve also tried to kill you!

As such, they’ve backed up their “Death to America” rhetoric by developing sophisticated and effective nuclear weapons and missile delivery programs. Their goal is to dominate the Middle East and Southwest Asia militarily and culturally, while neutering any potential response by Israel, the West, and particularly the Great Satan, America. Iran is a real and perilous national security threat to our United States of America and has been for the past 47 years.

Since day one of your first administration and up until recently in your second administration, I have been heartened by your clear understanding of America’s vital national security interests and your clear-text willingness to decisively address threats to those interests. I applaud your earlier actions to keep us safe and to mitigate or eliminate the key threats we face. Thank you.

A year ago (21 June 2025), you successfully attacked and neutralized several key components of Iran’s nuclear weapons program. We celebrated that bold surprise strike (Midnight Hammer) and thanked you for your decisiveness. We were safer.

Then, following Iran’s continued threats, unceasing and aggressive military support for anti-Israel and anti-U.S. terrorist armies and proxy forces (Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Hamas in Gaza), and initiation of reconstruction of their nuclear facilities, you boldly unleashed Operation Epic Fury on 28 February 2026. The military objectives were clear, succinct, and achievable — so far, so good. You and your team stated the military objectives as follows:

Destroy Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities.
Destroy the Iranian air force and navy.
Degrade proxy networks by severing Iran’s ability to support terrorist armies and other proxy forces.

You turned our military loose to achieve those objectives.

After nearly six weeks of intensive bombings and interdictions, and as your field commanders were nearing completion of the missions you had given them, on 7 April 2026, you stunningly declared an ill-conceived ceasefire and put a strong White House leash around the necks of your warfighters.

And to what end? As of today, your “memorandum of understanding” and “ceasefire” with Iran are in the dumpster.

Sir, it seems you have inexplicably lost your way.

You have gone right back to Vietnam, where Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon directly controlled engagements with North Vietnam from the White House. Every bomb dropped on the North was effectively approved by one of those presidents. Many American lives were lost and prisoners taken because of those presidents’ inability to empower their military forces to decisively take the fight to and defeat the enemy. It resulted in mission failure and America’s first major war defeat.

And, worse, we had them, then we took our foot off North Vietnam’s neck! We were so very close to forcing North Vietnam to capitulate and give us what we sought — peace and stability for an independent and non-communist South Vietnam. We disgracefully threw it all away. Shameful!

Unfortunately, you now have the United States of America engaged in a seemingly endless back-and-forth set of “negotiations” in hopes of producing a piece of paper with your signature on it that will declare “peace in our time” with Iran. It didn’t work with North Vietnam, and it won’t work now with Iran. With Iran on its back and clearly down for the count, you gave — gave — it renewed purpose: defeat the United States at the negotiating table, just like the North Vietnamese defeated us decades earlier!

Now, many months into this seemingly endless nonsense, there is no defining outcome on the horizon for the United States. What could have been accomplished in a couple more weeks of bombing is now dragging into a fully uncertain future with no clear-cut outcome. While a “deal” on paper may mean a lot to you as the great “dealmaker,” it means nothing to Iran — nothing.

Iran’s deeply radicalized and ill-conceived form of Islam hates us and will never — never — agree that we are anything other than the Great Satan, which they assert Allah has commanded them to destroy. Ultimately, Iran’s leaders will sign your ineffectual document and then, with renewed access to money and tightened alliances with China and Russia, they will continue their journey to destroy Israel and the United States as “commanded.” Why are you giving them this inevitable victory? Even if you have some success at the so-called negotiating table, the next Democrat administration will turn its back on your efforts, and your efforts will be tossed on the scrapheap of history.

I have no idea what has overcome you or why you’ve turned away from your previous instinctual decisiveness. I realize many elements of this strategy are not publicly known, but I hope you will soon make them known to the American people so we can make better sense of your actions.

Regardless, now that the MOU and ceasefire have, predictably, failed, I humbly suggest that before any further such agreements, you please do the following, and I pray we are not too late:

Issue Iran an ultimatum demanding its full and unconditional compliance with our original military objectives regarding its nuclear weapons programs. Give it 10 days to fully demonstrate compliance.
At the end of the 10-day period, require Iran to immediately and safely escort and assist American and international inspectors to all — all — its nuclear and missile manufacturing sites.
Require Iran to assist the United States in the location of and ultimate on-site destruction of all enriched uranium materials.
Require Iran to execute on-site destruction of theater and intercontinental missile production capabilities and facilitate U.S. inspection of those destroyed facilities.
Require Iran to immediately cease all interference with full international freedom of the seas in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz.
Demand Iran’s public declaration of cessation of all monetary and physical support to its proxy anti-Israel and anti-U.S. forces.
Inform Iran that failure to comply with any of these provisions will result in the immediate reinitiation of Epic Fury (Phase II), during which our military goals will be fully and quickly achieved. In any renewal of Epic Fury, add an additional military objective stating, “Destroy Iran’s oil distribution capabilities on Kharg Island.”
Demand that NATO fully join an international NATO-led coalition, supported by our Middle Eastern / Southwest Asian partners and allies, with responsibility to “police” the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz until such time as all Iranian verifications have been achieved. Fully militarily destroy any renewed efforts by Iran to in any way “close the Strait of Hormuz.”

Mr. President, up until the initiation of Epic Fury, you had been one of America’s greatest defenders of freedom. You have been freedom’s rallying cry heard both here at home and around the world. Now, you have devolved into a “deal” contest with a two-bit regime that has nothing to offer but threats to America and desperation for its people.

Through your now seemingly indecisive handling of the Iranian threat to America, you may also be throwing away the midterm elections. Americans will turn from you and the Republican Party unless you give them a rallying point. That point is to end this charade with Iran on our terms and end it now.

As my friend Mark Alexander noted previously, “Domestic politics and economics inevitably influence public opinion in any national security strategy, but they should not take precedence over such strategy when the alternative is the very real threat of a catastrophic attack on our nation.”

Sir, you must make that clear. Time is not on your side, or that of our nation.

I don’t want to remember “America 250” as the world’s greatest nation being humiliated by a radical and corrupt Islamic regime. Your current course of action must change. Please stop screwing it up and rediscover the decisive Donald Trump that I once deeply respected. I want him back! America needs him back.

(B.B. Bell, General, U.S. Army (Ret.), is a member of The Patriot Post’s National Advisory Committee. He served in uniform for almost four decades, including extended deployments overseas in both peace and war.)

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776

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The Patriot Post® · Mr. President, Get Iran Right!