Dominic Tierney, senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and professor of political science, said the ongoing Iran war highlights another example of the United States’ inability to conduct wars with clear strategy and success. Speaking on NPR’s ‘Weekend Edition Saturday,’ he described the conflict’s uncertain future and linked it to a decades-long pattern of U.S. military stalemates since World War II.

Tierney argued that Washington and its military leadership have overestimated their capacity to destroy Iran’s nuclear capability or trigger regime change through internal uprising. Instead, he said, such efforts have strengthened Iran’s current government. He noted similarities between the present situation and his 2018 article in The Atlantic, which discussed how U.S. policies often unintentionally bolster Iran’s position.

Discussing the conflict’s possible end, Tierney warned that any diplomatic resolution could take years, citing Vietnam and Afghanistan as examples of prolonged U.S. withdrawals. He said the United States remains in the middle of this crisis and must prepare for a difficult and extended process to find a way out.