Military historian and senior fellow at the Hoover Institute, Victor Davis Hanson, argued in a Fox News interview that while Iran’s primary goal is to drag out the conflict, since both defeating the United States and conceding to its demands are unlikely for regime hardliners, that strategy simply won't work, even as President Trump continues to extend the ceasefire.
He pointed to the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports and vessels, which are currently costing the regime more than $400 million a day. According to Hanson, that key pressure point leaves Iran with roughly a week to make a decision.
🚨 Victor Davis Hanson on IRAN: Delaying won’t save them. The pressure is crushing and the window is slamming shut.
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) April 22, 2026
“They don’t have more than six or seven days until they’re going to be broke.”
Trump’s blockade is working. The regime is gasping. pic.twitter.com/cvWNDPh42e
"So, Victor, extending the cease-fire, you know, the critics of the administration are saying, here we go again, we're just giving them more time, but Trump's, you know, crazy like a fox here, and he knows that, as the admiral just said, we can move at any time we want.
"Yeah, I don't think—they think that they have three choices," Hanson replied. "If they submit, they're going to be humiliated, so they don't want to do that."
"Or they can attack and send some missiles, if they do that, they're going to lose big-time their infrastructure, or I think the most viable, they think is to drag this out and out. But Donald Trump still has six months before the midterms. I don't think they have more than six or seven days until they're going to be broke, and we can even ramp that up."
So, all the cards are in our hands. The only thing they have for them, Laura, is they feel, in this echo chamber of these rival cliques that are running the government, they feel the American left or the antiwar movement, when they hear what you just reported, that the U.S. senator said it's awesome that they're—and that was false, nobody got through, but he was echoing their propaganda. Or Tim Walz is over in Barcelona saying that this whole enterprise is fascistic. Or Tom Friedman says, well, he'd like Iran to lose, but not if it helps the Trump administration.
"They hear all that," he added. "And so they feel—they magnify that, and they think, well, you know what? If we can hold out until the midterms, the left will win and cut off fundings and we'll get out of this OK."
This comes after the original two-week ceasefire with the regime was set to expire Tuesday, before being extended to Wednesday, and then extended again yesterday by President Trump. Axios reports the latest extension is expected to last another three to five days.
"Based on the fact that the Government of Iran is seriously fractured, not unexpectedly so and, upon the request of Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, of Pakistan, we have been asked to hold our Attack on the Country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal," the president wrote on Truth Social. "I have therefore directed our Military to continue the Blockade and, in all other respects, remain ready and able, and will therefore extend the Ceasefire until such time as their proposal is submitted, and discussions are concluded, one way or the other. President DONALD J. TRUMP."
Iran appears to be testing the limits of the extension, as less than 24 hours after it was announced, the regime reportedly attacked three vessels attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz and seized two of them. Videos have also surfaced showing missile launchers being paraded through Tehran.
President Trump has yet to respond.