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In the End, Everyone Hated the Iranian Theocracy
Victor Davis Hanson
July 3, 2025

It is hard even to digest the incredible train of events of the last few days in the Middle East. Iran had been reduced to an anemic, performance-art missile attack on our base in Qatar — the last Parthian shot from a terrified regime, desperate for an out — and a ceasefire. Iran would have been better off not launching such a ceremonial but ultimately humiliating proof of impotence. Even worse for the theocracy, Iran’s temporary reprieve came from the now magnanimous but still hated U.S. President Donald Trump. So ends the creepy mystique of the supposedly indomitable terror state of Iran, the bane of the last seven American presidents over half a century. For Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, it was hard to swallow that U.S. bombers got their permission to fly into Iranian airspace from the Israeli air force.  READ MORE

TIKVAH Victor Davis Hanson on What the Iran War Reveals about Israel and the American Interest We’re pleased to share the fourth and final session in Tikvah‘s special series, Living Through History: Learning from the “12-Day War.” In this conversation, the distinguished military historian Victor Davis Hanson explains the Trump administration’s approach to the American interest in Israel and Iran, the broader vision behind the president’s foreign policy, and the relationship between domestic political debates and American strategy abroad. You can watch the conversation by clicking here