Influential American neoconservative thinker and longtime pro-Israel strategist Robert Kagan has warned that the United States is heading toward a 'total defeat' in its ongoing conflict with Iran. Writing in The Atlantic, Kagan argued that the war has inflicted irreparable damage on Washington’s global standing and that no decisive American victory can reverse the losses. He described the conflict as both a military and strategic setback for the US.

Kagan, co-founder of the Project for the New American Century and a key advocate of US military interventionism, drew parallels between the current situation and past crises such as Pearl Harbor and the Vietnam War. He said the balance of power over the Strait of Hormuz has shifted, turning Iran from a regional into a global power. According to him, the war has exposed an unreliable America unable to finish what it starts.

He further warned that the Trump administration now faces limited options, with diminished leverage to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or maintain pressure on Tehran. Kagan also cautioned that the conflict could prove disastrous for Israel, potentially reducing US and Israeli influence across the Middle East.