Can the U.S. and Iran Coexist?

The hudna (cease fire) between the US and the Islamic Republic of Iran is seemingly over. But is it? President Trump's on again off again reports of near deals with Iran confuses everyone. The hoped for accommodation between the US and the Islamic Republic is no longer in effect or is it? As of this moment as both sides are attacking the other with the loss of several American servicemen and the wounding of many others. Is a cease fire, or hudna, possible? More importantly, can the US and the Islamic Republic coexist in this world together.? It seems increasingly doubtful. To the United States, there was a cease-fire with Iran. To the Islamic Republic, there was no cease-fire, whatever that may mean to westerners. There was a hudna, which is a distinct Islamic term referring to a pause in hostility while the weaker side, Iran, regroups and rearms itself to continue the war and bloodshed from a stronger position. Whether ultimately the US and the non-Islamic world will comprehend this remains to be seen. The thirst for oil makes strange bedfellows. If Iran was merely a center of rug weaving, you can be sure the west and east wouldn't give a tinker's damn about them. But black gold is another matter. What we are witnessing is exactly what Samuel Huntington wrote about in his masterpiece "The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order".

Iran has seriously misplayed its hand in the hudna (cease-fire) with the Great Satan, AKA the United States. The Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of last June gave significant concessions to the Islamic Republic in exhange for the opening of the Strait of Hormuz. Unfortunately, the US also misplayed its hand despite the President's bravado about what a great deal had been reached. Both sides have seriously erred in understanding their opponent. What we have here is no old fashioned fight over politics or economics. What we have here is a struggle between Western and Islamic civilizations, the latter aggressively being promoted by the major proponent of Shia Islam, the so called Islamic Republic of Iran. Their ultimate goal is the destruction of western civilization which they correctly perecive as being Christian with strong European origins. The Iranian leadership rightly remembers America's role in the VietNam War, the Students for a Democratic Society and the rioting mobs in the streets that overthrew President Lyndon B.Johnson with the assistance of various members of the legislative branch of government. LBJ was elected in 1964 in one of the greatest landslides in American history and by 1968 he couldn't be seen in public without near riots by various protestors, How does all of that relate to Iran's calculations in 2026? And what is American policy vis a vis the Islamic Republic based on and are they correct or incorrect?

The rulers of Iran recognize fully that after the Tet Offensive of Feb. 1968, the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces never launched a successful offensive. Yet they accomplished their war aims. They ousted the American forces and united VietNam under Communist rule that persists to this day. How did they do it? They had support from large numbers, in the millions, of Americans who felt that this was a dirty war, to use the term the French people used in their earlier war until their decisive defeat at Dien Bien Phu (1954). All the war and bloodshed in VietNam was unnecessary. As victory in World War II became apparent, President Franklin Roosevelt declared that French Indo China should be decolonized and freed from French rule. General de Gaulle, leader of the Free French objected strongly. FDR died; France continued to control Indo China and two wars later the west was finally out. During the French VietNam war, the French actually asked for US intervention with nuclear weapons. President Eisenhower refused. The French surrendererd due to massive demonstrations and a general understanding that after Dien Bien Phu, the war was lost. The American VietNam War would have turned out differently if not for violent rioting and agitation by college students, the leftist press, academics and opposition within LBJ's own Democratic Party. The North Vietnamese understood this and would not make peace as long as LBJ was president despite numerous bombing pauses. Richard Nixon became president on a platform of Vietnamization of the war and the withdrawal of American troops. Peace came. Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho won the Nobel Peace Prize and after a "decent interval", the North Vietnamese forces seized South VietNam and unified their country under Communist rule. What have the Iranians learned from this? The war is not popular in the US. Donald Trump's term expires on Jan 20, 2029. A Democrat victory in the mid-term (Nov. 2026) elections will make Trump a lame duck and probably end appropriations for America's military efforts. All Iran needs to do is hang on until then and they will be victorious as a tired America will sue for peace and pay reparations in the billions to the Islamo-Fascists. If the war continues, they will wait for the 2028 elections when a new president and Congress will take office. That is the Iranian plan and it is no secret. If it succeeds, Iran and Shia Islam will have won the redo of the Battle of Karbala (680) and become the dominant force in the Islamic world. Sunni Islam will realize that the west cannot support them and they will submit to Iranian leadership and domination. Western civilization as well as the United States will face its most serious threat in more than a thousand years as Islam will seek to dominate the world through its militant religious appeal as well as its oil weapon. Europe, in particular will be extremely vulneable and probably will abandon any alliance with the US.

What can the US do given the above scenario? America, and its western allies, whether they like it or not, have a limited period of time to defeat the Islamic Republic. That means no more hudnas, no more listening to fake moralists who are lost souls. We must defeat the mullahs and establish a secular government now, in the twenty-first century, and stop the backward march to the seventh century. There can be no compromise with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Its eschatology is in basic conflict with western civilization. We can no more exist with them than we could have existed with Nazi Germany. The only option is total victory with no compromise. The big question is what will the West do? The West's record in standing up for civilization is poor. Now, more than ever, political correctness,and moral relativity must be discarded. The stakes are too high. There can be no cease-fires with Iran and its proxies. There can be no peace treaty with the Islamic republic as they are neither trustworthy nor will they honor their word. At the Casablanca Conference in 1943, the allies demanded unconditinal surrender by the axis powers. No offers, only surrender. That is what is required with Iran. President Trump and his advisers need to stop being naive and begin to understand whom they are dealing with; a nation whose actions are totally incompatable with Western Civilization. and world order. John F. Kennedy said in his inaugural address "we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty". American Pravda (AKA NY Times) and its columnists praised President Kennedy's speech. Yet they oppose America's struggle with a violent and evil enemy who seeks to destroy our civilization. College kids and academics were inspired by JFK's speech. Yet the left, personified by the Democratic Socialists of America and many elements of JFK's Democratic Party sing a different song today. It's the 1930s Oxford oath all over again. We cannot afford that!

Is the West prepared for this battle? It had better be if civlization as we know it is to survive. The only question is not whether we will fight but whether we do so when we have the advantage or the other side has. No hudna and no compromise with evil. There can be no coexistence with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Garry S. Sklar

Perugia, Italy

August 3, 2026