The Iran War was supposed be short and easy according to President Trump and Secretary of War Pete Heseth. Given the fact that it isn’t over yet, it’s been anything but. We haven’t achieved any of our objectives yet and Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz which had free transit prior to our war. Now we have another objective that is necessary. Though we and the Israelis decapitated the Iranian leadership, the replacements seem as bad or worse. So what have we gained with the war and what have we lost. We did destroy a certain percentage of Iran’s missile and drone capability, but not enough to stop them from continuing to attack the Gulf States, American bases in the region, and Israel. Our gains lag far behind our losses.

First of all, we have lost the trust of the Iranian people. In December 2025 and earlyJanuary 2026, the Iranians by the millions demonstrated against the regime in the major cities. President Trump urged them to keep demonstrating declaring that help was on the way. However, the bombing of the Iranian leadership, the Revolutionary Guard and Basij encampments, facilities and buildings did not start until February 8, allowing the Iranian military forces to slaughter the demonstrators. It is estimated that 30-40,000 Iranians were killed by their own military.

We also lost the trust and aid from our allies in NATO. By launching our attacks on Iran without notifying our allies and gaining their consent, we lost any help we might have received from them. They could have been of value in opening the Strait of Hormuz. We also lost the trust of the Gulf states by being unable to protect them from Iranian missiles and drones.

And we lost free passage through the Strait of Hormuz which had not been a problem before the war. This has had a negative effect on the world’s economy and our economy. Opening up the Strait does not appear to be an easy task without restarting the war.

The war has also depleted the supply of our most important weapons including cruise missiles and Tomahawk missiles. Also Patriot interceptor missiles and ATACMS ground-based missiles. Our defense industry does not produce enough of these weapons to replace them quickly which leaves us short of both offensive and defensive weapons. It’s unclear how quickly these can be manufactured if the defense industry ramps up production.

Thus it appears that we’ve certainly lost more than we’ve gained in our short conflict with Iran. They still have their enriched uranium which we hoped to remove, and they’ve closed the Strait of Hormuz, strangling Western and Asian economies. Good move, Mr. President.
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