For over three months now, we have been at war with Iran. There has been kinetic action followed by a “ceasefire.” And as the “ceasefire” drags on, Iran’s military aggression continues.

Tehran is launching drone and missile attacks on ships and surrounding Arab nations and American bases. It also continues laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, yet President Donald Trump tells us a deal is imminent.

I want to be careful here, because I obviously only know what we hear or read in the media. Trump continually plays four-dimensional chess while his adversaries and political opponents play checkers. He always seems to come out ahead of where everyone expects. But as my friend Lt. Col. Allen West always says, “The enemy gets a vote.”

While Trump says a deal is imminent, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) — the guys with the guns — keeps saying, “No way, Jose!” Okay, I don’t know what the Persian word for “Jose” is, but you get my point.

The IRGC keeps issuing provocative statements, saying the regime’s uranium isn’t going anywhere and that it will control and extort the ships going through the Strait of Hormuz. Everyone is asking, “Who are we negotiating with?” Good question! As a combat veteran, it seems like the guys with the guns have more power than the negotiators.

We can argue about the concepts of a just war — having a legitimate cause, proportionality, and probability of success — but I personally believe the U.S. has just reasons for going to war with Iran.

I also believe the Democrat Party and the mainstream media (but I repeat myself) are seemingly rooting for Iran against their own country, telling the Iranians they’re winning. They claim Iran is in a stronger position than before the war started. These comments convince the IRGC it’s winning and not to give in.

So, the conflict drags on. Negotiators fly back and forth, but nothing changes. I’ve seen this movie before! Toward the end of the Vietnam War, we entered into negotiations with North Vietnam. I’m not going to get into the weeds, but basically, the communists jerked our negotiators around, made promises, lied, broke ceasefire agreements, and ran a clown show for several years. Richard Nixon bombed the snot out of them and got them to the negotiation table.

Communists lie to gain an advantage over their enemies. Muslims do the same thing. While some use the word “taqiyya” to describe this concept, “khidaʿah” is a better word. The prophet Muhammad allegedly said, “War is deception.” That means Muslims can lie, misinform, or do whatever is needed to gain tactical advantage.

I personally believe we are being played by the Iranians to drag out these negotiations as long as they can, hoping they can outlast President Trump because of the midterm elections. But if Americans, upset about higher gas prices for a short period of time, vote for Democrats, we’re all screwed!

I understand Trump’s hesitancy to continue negotiations. The people of Iran may be struggling, but knowing this horrible regime might be defeated gives them the desire to hang in there until absolute victory.

Iran’s Christian population is the fastest growing in the world. If we quit, the suffering that the Iranians have gone through so far will pale in comparison to what will happen if we withdraw or settle for anything but the complete destruction of this regime.

Something to pray about!
Semper Fidelis