Commentary
While Americans are feeling the pinch pumping gas at the pump, President Trump insists that the prices will fall once that “great deal” is negotiated with Iran. He has asked Americans to understand that it’s a small price to pay for national security. They understand that but it it’s difficult to think about stopping the ‘hate America’ crowd on the other side of the world when you’re holding a gas receipt of $75 or $80 in your hand.
On May 3, 2026, in my piece, “Get On With It, Mr. President, Finish off Iran,” I wrote of the bold action required to show Iran leadership, such as it is, we are serious. I quoted Wiliam Shatner describing the mission of the Enterprise in the Star Trek series – “to go boldly where no man has gone before.”
Of course, I was referring to every president since Bill Clinton – Bush, Obama and Biden – who identified a nuclear-armed Iran as a line that cannot be crossed. But Obama and Biden contributed to Iran’s nuclear development.
Across three decades and those six presidential administrations, Democratic and Republican alike, one national security principle has never changed: The United States will not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.
The difference – believing Iran was dangerously close to having a nuclear weapon, Trump does not want to kick it down road to the next occupier of the White House.
But over the past few weeks, he has decided to see if diplomacy would work, fully realizing Iranians are known for their delay tactics. Iranian negotiators believe they can outlast Americans as they hear the U.S. media and members of Congress in opposition to continuing strikes on what key targets are left.
While a few Republican senators – Murkowski, Collins and Paul – not surprisingly, have grown skeptical, foolishly complaining again about the lack of a clear endgame, while citing the need to restore the flow of oil and fertilizer. One of the things Trump has been concentrating on.
While negotiations have been in process, we have taken defensive shots at the limited Iranian posts along the Strait of Hormuz to protect the shipping lane.
At the same time, three Defense hawks, led by Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker and Senators Graham and Cruz, have not sided with negotiations that give Iranians time.
With the media describing some of the emerging deal, Washington think tanks have come alive with concern that the deal would be weaker than the Obama JCPOA deal of 2015.
“It’s hard to predict that any deal, if reached, will hold even in the short term,” wrote Alexander Bolton in The Hill. “Trump knows more than anyone that the approach with Iran has to be ‘distrust and triple-verify,’ and to his credit, he’s doing just that.”
Then, as if Iran hasn’t taken enough of a blow to its leadership, reportedly Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, has tendered his resignation to the supposed Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who is hiding.
President Trump may want to think again about his recent statements that Iran’s negotiators are more level-headed, because Pezeshkian’s departure appears to that leaves the Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) in charge, so to speak.
I continue to think we need to return to finish the job we started. But target anti-air defenses and those missile and drone launching sites. Forget that boast of knocking out bridges and utility sites.
Patience, the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, is not one of Trump’s strong suits, but deal-making is.
May God guide the president through uncertainty to make the best deal for America and the Middle East.
