Thursday, October 1, 2026
Like it or not, the war with Iran will soon enter its seventh month. It may be true that the war was started with the express purpose of taking away Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon, but as of now that goal has proved elusive. Iran has been a clever and resilient foe, and it’s possible that the current battle will last far into the future. The longer it lasts, the longer Americans will pay a hefty price for gasoline, fertilizer and other badly needed consumer products.
On numerous occasions, President Trump has displayed a chart highlighting the fact that the Iran war hasn’t lasted anywhere near as long as the Vietnam War, the war in Afghanistan or the Korean War, and on that he is correct. The Vietnam War lasted from 1955 to 1975. The war in Afghanistan lasted 20 years, and the Korean War lasted from 1950 to 1953.
The problem with the White House chart is that it fails to point out the fact that the wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan were total failures, and the Korean War is considered a draw and not any kind of victory. Many of us who were alive during the 20 years of strife in Vietnam still remember the photo of desperate evacuees reaching for a helicopter ladder as the U.S. Army left the capital.
By all accounts, Vietnam was a terrible loss. Our military failed to prevent Communist forces from taking over South Vietnam, culminating in the fall of Saigon in 1975 and the unification of the country under a Communist government. Another indelible image from that war is the dramatic photo of children, one of them naked, fleeing a napalm attack.
The war in Afghanistan was another embarrassment for our nation. Failing to consider the loss of over 15,000 Soviet soldiers, we forged ahead and ultimately withdrew after 20 years, leaving the country to the Taliban, the same group we tried to oust in 2001. That war cost the lives of more than 2,400 U.S. military personnel, and an additional 20,700 were wounded. An estimated 66,000 to 69,000 Afghan national military and police officers were killed.
The Korean War was supposed to result in the unification of that country, but ended with an armistice agreement. It’s estimated that the U.S. lost 33,700 members of the military, and 103,000 were wounded. When America entered that war, it didn’t anticipate that China would contribute hundreds of thousands of troops, transforming a relatively local battle into an international showdown.
The strategic location of South Korea has been of major importance to the United States, which makes the current situation in that country so confusing. Trump recently pulled back U.S. support for strategic war games, apparently as a favor to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. Trump is seeking to renew what he describes as a friendship with Kim, which experts agree is, at best, a waste of time.
Our adventure in Iraq should be added to the list of doubtful wars conducted by the U.S. military. While we succeeded in removing Saddam Hussein, a brutal dictator, there were setbacks. We started the war with the goal of finding stockpiles of so-called weapons of mass destruction, but none were ever found. In addition, the failure to recruit the Iraqi army to our side turned their soldiers into our sworn enemies and triggered a civil war. America lost more than 4,400 troops.
The U.S. has won a number of significant conflicts in recent decades — the invasions of Grenada (1983) and Panama (1989-1990) and the Gulf War (1990-1991). Of course, whether we “win” sometimes depends on how you define a military victory. Occasionally these wins end with political solutions.
What would you call the war with Iran? It’s currently a standoff, with the Strait of Hormuz still closed. Trump is now considering declaring the strait some kind of American property, but that idea isn’t exactly acceptable to everyone else in the region. In the meantime, the Iranians feel emboldened by virtue of the fact that there is a stalemate. Trump has declared a number of times that the warring parties are close to a deal, but it never happens.
Historians tend to attach presidents’ names to lost wars, and there’s little doubt that Trump will own the Iran War.
Jerry Kremer was a state assemblyman for 23 years, and chaired the Assembly’s Ways and Means Committee for 12 years. He currently chairs the Capitol Insight Group, a government relations firm. Comments? jkremer@liherald.com.
