Local opinion: Ill-advised bombing campaign has put U.S. in difficult position

There is widespread agreement that the Iranian regime has been a supporter of terrorism all over the Middle East, and this for decades now, and that it has made dangerous progress in its nuclear program.

For that reason, many Western countries have tried hard and quite successfully to engage with Iran in a peaceful agreement (Iran Deal, July 2015), but Trump abruptly withdrew from it in May 2018. There were constructive negotiations going on just before Trump started the war on Feb. 28, 2026.

As we all know, and as any expert had anticipated, a simple bombing campaign has not achieved much, or rather, Iran has used its own massive arsenal of weapons against us and our allies and has blocked the Strait of Hormuz to western tankers (those from non-hostile countries pay a toll and can pass).

What has the bombing campaign achieved? The US is bleeding badly in terms of dollars; most Middle Eastern countries have faced terrible counterattacks, including Israel. World trade is in decline, the American people are suffering on a daily basis, and the Iranian population is now the victim both of their own regime and our bombs.

Carpet bombing badly destroyed Nazi Germany until May 1945, but Hitler never gave up until it was all over. The Vietnam War has demonstrated as well that massive air raids ultimately have no true impact, whereas it strengthens the resolve of the enemy and makes the civilian population desperate.

Against all predictions by the Pentagon, Iran is not simply crumbling like Venezuela, and, as we have all known before, it now seems to control the war itself, making Trump look rather foolish. He would like to declare victory so that he could claim the Nobel Peace Prize, but Teheran is setting the tone and keeps fighting.

The number of victims on both sides is climbing, the cost of the war is spiraling out of control, the bombing does not achieve much, the oil price is climbing, the U.S. voters are getting furious, and, ironically, the Iranian rebels on the streets are completely silenced and repressed.

Yes, we have killed the Iranian military leadership, but a new one has immediately established itself, more radical, more hostile, more religiously fanatic. Did the U.S. government not realize that Iran has been the major supplier of drones to Putin in his equally disastrous war against Ukraine?

Has anyone ever looked at the geographic map and studied the highly complex topography of Iran? Their revolutionary guards are extremely dangerous military forces, and venturing into a direct confrontation with them on the ground could lead to a massive loss of lives on both sides.

In sum, despite some pundits still clamoring that this Iran war was necessary to stop their development of the nuclear bomb, there is globally a strong consensus that there cannot be any good outcome of any US military operations.

Sure, Israel wants to eliminate Iran, and Netanyahu obviously managed to convince Trump that this would be yet another glorious military coup, but this is now threatening the existence of Israel itself. Tragically, there is no good outcome of our attempts to subdue or repress the Iranian regime.

Considering the daily costs of our bombing campaign, which certainly delights the US military industry, we are facing an imminent fiasco of global proportions in economic terms. With all our attention currently focused on Iran, the time might have come for China to take over Taiwan. What military power would we then have to stop them from realizing their old dream?

I can only repeat what many military strategists throughout time have strongly urged us to consider before anyone embarks on a war. Always keep in mind how to exit the campaign, have clear goals in mind, but primarily assess your enemy carefully so that you do not underestimate the danger that you as the aggressor might face.

I do not see any military expertise in place in the newly named War Department today, and I feel deeply sorry for both the Iranian people and the U.S. military. Everything has been so ill-conceived, and I am afraid that there will NOT be any good result for the western/Arabic world.