by
Austin BayMarch 12, 2026
Ten days ago, the Trump administration decided to win a 47-year-long war waged by Ayatollah Iran against America and -- at various times -- two dozen other nations.
In 1979, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's radical minions toppled the Shah and seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran, holding American diplomats hostage for 444 days.
Seizing an embassy is an act of war. Khomeini labeled the U.S. "The Great Satan." America was the source of global evil, a decadent beast to be destroyed -- possibly with nuclear fire.
Over the last 47 years, Khomeini's theocratic dictatorship has murdered, facilitated the murder (usually via proxy fighters) of or kidnapped and tortured hundreds of Americans.
Here are few examples of scores of Iran-sponsored attacks: U.S. diplomats and Marine peacekeepers (Beirut, 1983), American personnel in Saudi Arabia (1996), and diplomats in Gaza (2003). The Pentagon believes Iran-backed militias murdered at least 603 U.S. troops in Iraq (2003-2011).
The White House recently reminded the world that in January 2020, an Iranian ballistic missile attack on the Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq left 109 U.S. troops with severe traumatic brain injuries.
Ayatollah Iran waged continual war on the U.S. Khomeini's followers, with Allah on their side, believed The Great Satan of the U.S. would eventually fade, from decadence, cowardice, moral dissolution and lassitude. The lesser Satans of France, Britain and Russia (oh, yes, Cold War atheists) would wither. Ultimately, the Zionist entity of Israel would be destroyed. Once again, Iran would return to the center of world history.
Persian imperial restorationists wearing Islamic robes? Definitely zealot mullahs employing nationalist propaganda themes.
Religious zealots usually find a reason to wage war on everybody. In the late 1990s, the regime was fostering terror attacks and criminal activity in at least a dozen different countries, from Afghanistan to Lebanon to Bosnia to Germany. The regime established ties with South American drug cartels, which ultimately led to its cooperation with Hugo Chavez' Venezuelan dictatorship.
In June 2025, the Trump administration tried to eliminate Ayatollah Iran's nuclear weapons program. Apparently, the Midnight Hammer raid severely damaged Iran's nuclear development facilities. But the regime began reconstituting the nuke project.
In December 2025, mass protests against the regime's economic ineptitude and corruption erupted in Iran. By February, the regime had killed 35,000 of its own citizens.
Even the most fanatic Khomeinists know the revolution failed -- but if they can just get a nuke they can still swagger, threaten and maintain oil cash flow.
So the Trump administration decided to win the 47-year war and win it on American terms.
The administration's war plan integrates America's overwhelming Diplomatic Intelligence/information, Military and Economic power.
DIME is the acronym. When presidential policy "is working" (achieving its stated goals), diplomatic action, information power (both the ability to communicate and to gather intelligence), military power (tactical to strategic) and economic assets and capabilities complement one another. The result: a powerful synergy that physically destroys the adversary's military, security and logistics capabilities, strangles the adversary's economy, and in the process panics and isolates (or kills?) its leaders.
Achieving these goals sets the stage for regime collapse.
We are witnessing this process. After 10 days, the U.S. and Israel have air superiority over Tehran (air supremacy according to one source). Iran is firing fewer and fewer missiles at Israel and Gulf Arab nations.
As for keeping the Strait of Hormuz open to oil tanker traffic, in last week's column, I wrote, "Completely eliminating the ayatollah regime's ability to close the Strait of Hormuz means also destroying its mine-laying capabilities and small boat flotilla. Standoff weapons (air strikes, missiles, artillery) can destroy those targets, but doing so requires detailed intelligence and time to destroy small, dispersed targets ..."
As I finish this week's column, media report Iran's mine-laying flotilla and its weapons storage sites are being decimated.
Fair bet the U.S. Navy effectively controls the Strait of Hormuz. In 2025, China imported an estimated 1.38 million barrels per day in sanctioned oil shipped from Iran in "ghost fleet" tankers. Looks like Washington now controls Iranian oil exports.