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Donald Trump and his administration appear to be at a loss for how to move the needle in the conflict
The Pentagon, nexus of American military might, the institution that holds the brightest martial minds in the world, whose resources are greater than any warchest the greatest killers of history could even imagine, has a question for all those under its command: Does anyone … uh … have any ideas?
According to CNN, a senior Pentagon official sent an email last week to a broad group of military analysts asking for new ideas on the Iran war, which has become a tactical and strategic quagmire for Donald Trump’s administration.
“We are looking for new creative and unconventional ways to pressure and punish Iran,” the official wrote, per CNN.
This is just one email from one official, of course, a tiny part of the Pentagon’s overall strategic input into the war on Iran. But it’s also a sign that the Trump administration is increasingly desperate for any way to shift the narrative with Iran. In a statement to CNN, a military spokesperson waved off the email as a senior officer simply consulting his subordinates. “U.S. Central Command has a long history of thinking and working in innovative ways,” the spokesperson said.
That innovation, thus far, is coming up short. The reality is that Trump is deadlocked on Iran: unable to end the conflict without making massive concessions and losing face, but unable to “win” by any real metric because of how much leverage Iran still has. He knows it too. On Monday, he lashed out in a long rant on Truth Social, calling Iranian leadership “unbelievably duplicitous” and rambling about who was actually in control of the Strait, using the phrase “The United States Wall of Steel,” in reference to the American blockade.
This frustration has resulted in some floundering revisionism that appears to be coming from Trump himself. Last week, the Department of Defense abruptly changed its official casualty listto indicate that some of the Iran conflict’s servicemember deaths did not count, as they occurred while the conflict was technically in a ceasefire. Throughout the past five months, Trump has repeatedly blustered that the war is almost over and victory is assured, but current negotiations have been stalled by a new round of violence. Trump has been bombing Iran heavily over the past few weeks (despite the aforementioned ceasefire) in an attempt to get them to change their demands regarding the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has responded with drone and missile fire at ships in the region and U.S. bases.
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There are signs, too, that Trump may eventually take even more drastic measures. He has recently moved on from past threats to take Iran’s Kharg Island by force and shifted to threatening to destroy Pickaxe Mountain, a key nuclear site. With Trump, any and all options could be on the table, depending on his mood — though if the internal military communications above are any indication, everyone involved is running out of ideas.
It’s all part of the plan, according to Trump. “We have a conflict with Iran and that’s working out very well,” he said in the Oval Office on Monday. “Very, very well.”
