Nine months into the U.S. military campaign against Iran, critics have labeled it a “forever war” quagmire. But a closer look at the numbers β and the strategic realities on the ground β suggests a very different story, according to a provocative new analysis in American Thinker.
A War Unlike Afghanistan or Iraq
The piece pushes back against comparisons to Vietnam or Afghanistan, noting the absence of grueling ground combat or high casualty rates. With just 23 U.S. servicemembers killed and 865 wounded over nine months, the toll remains far below typical peacetime military losses from accidents and illness. “Were per year statistics presented out of sequence,” the author writes, “it would be nearly impossible to identify the year including the Iran conflict.”
Energy Markets Adjust β and Iran Is Losing
While Iran sporadically harasses shipping lanes, its oil exports have cratered under the U.S.-led blockade. Neighboring producers have more than compensated for the shortfall, creating a more diversified and resilient global energy market. The article scoffs at left-wing complaints about gas prices, noting progressive indifference to far higher costs under Biden: “The circumstance under their guy is fine while the same under another is evidence of incompetence? I do not believe them.”
The Nuclear Threat Contained
Most critically, the piece argues the campaign neutralized Iran’s nuclear blackmail. The regime once boasted it could produce 11 nuclear weapons within 10 days; today, its enrichment programs lie in ruins. Attempts to strangle the Strait of Hormuz failed, diminishing Tehran’s future leverage. “That threat has been dealt with,” the author concludes, suggesting media handwringing says more about partisan bias than battlefield realities.
Source: www.americanthinker.com β https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/11/the-iran-distemper/