The president says that the United States is "reinstating" a blockade on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz and will charge other ships for safe passage. The decision comes following an Iranian attack on a container ship and casts further doubt on the Memorandum of Understanding reached last month.
Author Bob Maginnis sees three potential paths forward.
"The first one is escalation," he tells AFN. "I don't endorse that, nor do I think that's what the president's going to do. That could likely involve boots on the ground to go in to permanently dismantle Iran's military capability, which would include the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps). That's potentially decades long and very costly."
The second option is containment.
"Arguably, we've done a lot of that over time," Maginnis submits. "If you keep bombing Iran, it really could mean escalation and de-escalation, but it certainly is going to be a constant regional instability, so, there's no real victory. It's just the management of a cancerous problem in that part of the world."
The third option, which he tends to favor, is a negotiated settlement.
"Iran has repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to delay, deceive, and rebuild, and I don't think anything has changed since February on that, in spite of all the bombing," the analyst observes.
He says if America is going to confront Iran, it must do more than punish the latest provocation; it must define the peace it is trying to impose.
"The president has got to define what his objectives are," Maginnis says.
Partnership better represents what Israel is
While Trump focuses on ending the war in Iran, there could be a big change coming for U.S.-Middle East policy.
During a recent interview on the Fox News Channel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he wants to wean his country from depending upon the United States for military aid and instead launch a new economic partnership between the two countries.
"We invest jointly and take the fruits equally. You move from aid to partnership, and I think that represents what Israel is," the prime minister said. "We share with America unbelievable intelligence to save American life. Israel's contributions to America's defense are important. Our technology is incredible, and since yours is incredible too, and you are the great champion of liberty and free markets, I think the meshing of our two great countries of talent would strengthen America's position both in the economic marketplace and then in the military battlefield in many important ways."
In short, he wants the U.S. to invest the money that is given to Israel's military into new technologies needed to give the U.S. and Israeli militaries the advantage.
"I think Israel will continue to need help from the United States, and in turn, Israel is providing the United States with enormous advances in technology and defense industries," Washington Times columnist Robert Knight tells AFN.
"We're kind of joined at the hip," he says, and with the exception of the "increasingly antisemitic and specifically anti-Israel" far Left, he thinks most Americans appreciate that.
Knight notes that Christians who read the Bible know that Israel is apple of God's eye.
"I think most Americans understand that supporting Israel is in America's best interest, and it's also the right thing to do," he says.
