Eric Navarro

[Eric Navarro @ericnavarro]

The commentary from all sides about the Iran conflict and any potential deal demonstrates that Americans, as a people, have completely lost the ability to wage war. We dont even understand what war is anymore.

[Eric Navarro @ericnavarro]

@GeraldoRivera China is ok with the strait being closed? That makes sense to you?

[Eric Navarro @ericnavarro]

@RichardHaass Just because you say something doesnt make it true.

[James E. Thorne @DrJStrategy]

For the record.

When will the president get the credit he deserves ?

President Trump’s Iran ceasefire has been dismissed by much of the commentary class as the messy coda to a failed experiment in shock and sanctions. Metz went so far as to say that Trump had been “humiliated.” Voters will recognise something different. On the eve of a War Powers showdown, Trump accepted a tightly bounded truce with Tehran and then told Congress that “the hostilities that began on February 28, 2026, have terminated” and that there has been “no exchange of fire” since early April. In a single move, he froze a costly air campaign at the moment of maximum American advantage, shut off the statutory clock that threatened to box him in, and kept every meaningful instrument of pressure on Iran. President Trump deserves credit for knowing when to stop firing missiles and start banking leverage.

The episode so many commentators cite as proof of American decline actually shows something else. Operation Epic Fury, coupled with sustained economic and financial pressure, has not only bloodied Iran; it has exposed how little Europe, the UK, NATO and even China could do to shape events once Washington moved first and then abruptly changed tempo. Ordinary Americans can see the opposite: no one rushed in to replace the United States, and most of the world quietly waited to see what Washington would do next.

Clausewitz would not be surprised. For him, war is a continuation of politics by other means, to be started and stopped when it serves the political object, not the expectations of pundits. Trump treated the air campaign as a phase in a larger contest, and he was willing to suspend it the moment it had done its work, crippling Iran’s capabilities, clarifying who still sets the pace in the Gulf, and improving America’s position in the global balance.

In a world after Pax Americana, secure energy, food and critical minerals are increasingly a North American story. The operation that supposedly “proved” U.S. weakness has instead reminded allies, rivals and investors where crisis management capacity still reside, and that President Trump is prepared to use American military, legal and economic power in concert to make that fact impossible to ignore.

[Eric Navarro @ericnavarro]

@Osint613 It is not in spite of the conflict.

[Eric Navarro @ericnavarro]

@Osint613 It is not in spite of the conflict.

[Eric Navarro @ericnavarro]

@SethAMandel @joelpollak This is not being discussed. By attacking its Arab neighbors, Iran has strengthen the security framework between those countries and the US. And Israel by extension. This will extend beyond this specific conflict.

[Eric Navarro @ericnavarro]

@Osint613 How would they do that exactly?

[Ned Ryun @nedryun]

"America’s leverage in the Strait exposes Iran’s weakness—turning its greatest asset into a liability and reshaping the balance of power without a ground war." https://t.co/EU9YEcUTvz

[Eric Navarro @ericnavarro]

@ratlpolicy Correct. It would make it nearly impossible for the US to effectively project power.

[Eric Navarro @ericnavarro]

@Timcast Its not a theory. Its strategy.

[Eric Navarro @ericnavarro]

@glcarlstrom Why would making China buy oil from somewhere other than Iran be a bad thing?

[Eric Navarro @ericnavarro]

@RC_Greenway @JimHansonDC This is a critical point. US capabilities dont exist in a vacuum. They far outpace our adversaries’. The world is being reminded of this.

[Open Source Intel @Osint613]

Lebanese MP Camille Chamoun: "Nothing in war is humane, but if Israel had wanted to annihilate the Shiites in Lebanon, it would not bother giving early warnings, we’d see 100,000 casualties instead of 2,000."

[Jim Hanson @JimHansonDC]

If Iran does not negotiate in good faith, President Trump should seize Iranian oil leaving the Strait of Hormuz.

It's legal through US maximum pressure sanctions and by maritime law covering armed conflicts.

Take the Oil!
https://t.co/G9SmEfYPec

[Eric Navarro @ericnavarro]

@JesseKellyDC Sorry. This is lazy analysis. You’re assuming that a pause in kinetic action is the end of the campaign. It is not.

[Eric Navarro @ericnavarro]

@davereaboi Why do you assume things are over?

[James Lindsay, anti-Communist @ConceptualJames]

We live in an unprecedented age of propaganda. You must prepare yourself.

[Eric Navarro @ericnavarro]

@davereaboi What upper hand? Serious question.

[Eric Navarro @ericnavarro]

@EWErickson With all due respect, you have no idea what you’re talking about.