Trump's Iran War Mirrors Vietnam, FP Columnist Writes
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- Howard W. French argues in Foreign Policy that the Iran war replicates the Vietnam pattern: ill-defined and shifting goals, secretive planning with no congressional consultation, ideologically driven architects with no regional expertise, and unshakable faith in superior U.S. technology
- David Halberstam's "The Best and the Brightest" frames the comparison; French notes Trump's senior officials — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Vice President J.D. Vance — lack the academic and managerial credentials of Kennedy-era figures like McGeorge Bundy and Robert McNamara
- Trump and Hegseth have asked Congress for $1.5 trillion in additional military spending after the U.S. began running out of high-tech missile systems needed to sustain the campaign against Iran
- USS Abraham Lincoln crew members have reportedly attempted to leap to their deaths after more than 250 days at sea enforcing a naval blockade of Iran, with French citing collapsing morale
- Iranian Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Naqdi told PBS NewsHour that Iran "had never seen a real war" until now and has learned to fight the U.S. military in five months, calling American capability weaker than perceived
- Trump's stated aim of wiping out Iran's civilization has no precedent in U.S. war rhetoric, the piece argues — not even the atomic bombings of Japan represented such nihilistic language
Why it matters: The column recasts the Iran conflict as a strategic and moral repeat of Vietnam, warning that Washington is burning through critical munitions, hemorrhaging naval morale after 250+ days at sea, and fielding leaders with no executive experience — while Iran publicly claims it is learning to defeat U.S. forces on the battlefield.
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