Victor Davis Hanson, an American classicist, military historian, and conservative political commentator, revealed why Operation Epic Fury isn't like the Iraq or Afghanistan War, as other political commentators, Democrats, and panicked isolationists rush to accuse the Trump administration of starting another forever war.
Victor Davis Hanson pinpoints one of the most important differences between the Iran conflict and wars the United States has lost in the past.
— Overton (@overton_news) March 4, 2026
No one is coming to Iran’s defense and they are rapidly depleting their arms with no way to resupply them.
HANSON: “They have a… pic.twitter.com/CZMrd2Aq2c
Iran has "a finite supply of missiles, drones, and airplanes, and they're being attrited, demolished, destroyed every day, and they're not being replenished. You can't get into Iran, you can't fly into Iran to give them more arms. So they have a finite supply while their enemies do not," Hanson said. "That's very important."
"And more importantly, what would end the war in their favor would be something like the Iraqi war or the Afghan war. In other words, they would have to kill hundreds or thousands of Americans or Israelis to create public backlash to a degree that would force the leadership to back off," he argued. "Or they would have to accomplish stunning strategic victories, maybe blow up the facilities right around the Straits of Hormuz and blockade it somehow, blow up some ships, make it impossible for 20 percent of the world's fossil fuels to get out."
"They don't seem to have the wherewithal," he added. "Each day, as I said, their stock of weapons and stock of leaders is diminishing, and there's no way to resupply it."
Hanson went on to explain that every war the United States has “lost” wasn’t due to a lack of American strength, but rather a combination of continued resupply by foreign adversaries and declining domestic public support. Neither of which is applicable in Operation Epic Fury.
"That's how we lost in Vietnam," he said. "The Chinese and Russian governments were supplying either across the border or at the port of Haiphong. And that's why we didn't win in Afghanistan, because there was an open border with Pakistan. And that's why we had trouble in Iraq. Syria was transferring weapons into Iraq."
"But this is different," Hanson added.
This comes as American and Israeli forces have unleashed devastating strikes on senior Iranian officials and military installations. Within days of the initial assault, roughly 50 high-ranking Iranian figures, including Ayatollah Khamenei, were killed, as our military continues to destroy much of the IRGC's military capacity.
Yet despite America’s overwhelming firepower, its willingness to use it, and the campaign’s glaring success, many are questioning whether this will become yet another endless war in the Middle East. The reality, however, suggests the opposite: that the operation may decisively eliminate one of the principal foreign adversaries of the United States.
Editor's Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.
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