When overwhelming force meets unyielding resistance, the result is often explosive. That is what we are seeing this week as President Trump’s Operation Epic Fury encounters Iran’s determination to resist at all costs. From all accounts, Israeli and American military strikes are meeting and even exceeding their goals of disassembling the regime’s infrastructure. Yet Tehran continues to disrupt oil traffic in the vital Persian Gulf even as it lashes out at its neighbors.
Two weeks in, it appears to be a stalemate. Devastating airstrikes have not broken the mullahs’ will to resist. The effective closing of the Strait of Hormuz and the global turmoil in energy and stock markets haven’t shaken Mr. Trump’s resolve.