Talks between Pakistan’s prime minister and the American delegation have begun. Tehran is insisting on the preconditions it set for negotiations, including a ceasefire in Lebanon, war reparations and the release of frozen assets.
Tehran claims it threatened to destroy a US destroyer within 30 minutes unless it withdrew. Washington denies that account and says US warships crossed the Strait of Hormuz for the first time since the war began. Trump: “We are clearing out the Strait of Hormuz.”
Senior officers argued that weapons production could be shifted to the US because “we are completely dependent on them anyway.” That is a mistake. Dependence is not binary. But the officers’ response was not only a miscalculation of power. It also reflected a deeper intellectual failure.
In the Second Iran War, Israel demonstrated extraordinary capabilities and struck its enemy in an unprecedented way. But as in every front since October 7, military power came at the expense of other forms of strength that are being eroded at an alarming rate. How can the same mistakes be avoided on Israel's northern front?
Bennett fired the opening shot, and after him some of the brightest minds philosophized about the concept of “victory.” But no one can take away what two courageous leaders achieved when they took their fate into their own hands.
