Iran Is Collapsing—But D.C., Europe, and Former Allies Want Trump to Quit | Victor Davis Hanson

Will the 360-degree pressures that surround President Donald Trump force him to stop short of dealing the final death blow to the Iranian regime? I hope not. Why, after Iran has been militarily destroyed and has a restive population that could rebel any minute now, does Iran keep saying that it’s winning, and why do people put pressure on Donald Trump as if he’s losing? The answer is that war is not necessarily just about military affairs alone—it’s politics, argues Victor Davis Hanson on today’s edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.”

Iran’s Bluff Collapses as Trump Tightens the Screws | Victor Davis Hanson

Nothing that the Iranians say can be taken at face value because there is no Iranian government. The first and second echelon of that apparatus is gone. So you have the people in the military, that's one clique. You've got the theocracy, that's another. You've got the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Then you've got these elected politicians. And they have two driving concerns. One, they are terrified that one of the other three groups will think they're weak and are negotiating with the Americans and either kill 'em or marginalize 'em or cut off their revenues, such as it is. So they always want to outdo each other.