The New Forever War in Iran Keeps the Dog Wagging |
Endless War
The New Forever War in Iran Keeps the Dog Wagging
The domestic political uses of foreign wars
Katherine Mangu-Ward | From the May 2026 issue
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(Photo: Tehran, Iran, on March 3, 2026; Vahid Salemi/Associated Press)
At press time, the U.S. is engaged in a war with Iran—or at least very warlike behavior, including taking out much of a sitting government, killing Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several top military commanders, dropping 2,000-pound bombs from B-2 stealth bombers on missile and nuclear facilities, and launching Tomahawk cruise missiles and drones at hundreds of targets across the country.
Why? That depends on whom you ask and on which day. Perhaps there was an imminent threat—maybe even a nuclear threat?—to the United States. Or perhaps the Iranian regime is a sponsor of terror, on which we have already declared war. Or perhaps we need to support our allies in the region. Or perhaps just because Khamenei was just a world-historically murderous bastard, even in a region famed for its murderous bastards.
Here's a good rule of thumb, both for understanding foreign policy and also for life in general: When someone offers a bunch of rapid-fire and mutually irreconcilable justifications for a controversial decision, they're not telling you the whole story.
William Shakespeare might have invoked letting slip the dogs of war to describe the unleashing of violence, but these days we just "wag the dog." Popularized by Our American Cousin—the play being performed at Ford's Theatre when........