The war with Iran has now exceeded six months. Hostilities subside and then flare up again; the most recent over the weekend, when US forces attacked two Iranian oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for attempted attacks on US ships. As the war turns hot, then cold, then hot again, one question is on everyone’s minds: What is the president thinking? This article by Mike Doran, first published in Tablet, is an attempt to find an answer that, unlike everything written about this conflict, generates more light than heat. We are pleased to publish it on our pages. —Editors Lindsey Graham and Donald Trump agreed on the goal: an Islamic Republic stripped of its nuclear program and the power to hold the region hostage. But they frequently disagreed on how to get Tehran to concede. Graham never wavered. He recommended more force. Three weeks into the war, the senator revealed the advice he had given the president: “Keep it up for a few more weeks, take Kharg Island… [and] Let this regime die on the vine.” In May, he stated the theory clearly: “Do more harm to them. Maybe they’ll make a deal if you hurt them enough.” And in June, three weeks before his death, he predicted that if Iran disputed the Strait of Hormuz, “we will destroy them.” Since last Easter, Trump has repeatedly threatened Tehran in line with the late senator’s advice. Over the summer, the U.S. military prepared what was supposed to have been the largest attack of the war. However, at the urging of regional allies, the president again gave the military the order to stand down. Graham did not live to accept that rejection, but many of his political allies, including my friends, reached what they considered an obvious conclusion: Trump had lost his nerve.
