US President Donald Trump said the Iran war would end “immediately” after November’s midterm election, contradicting the analysis of experts and even some of his closest advisors. Top White House officials, including the vice president and the secretary of state, have reportedly told Trump that Iran would resist the US blockade and other military tactics through the rest of his term to Inauguration Day in Jan. 2029.
Experts, noting signs of Tehran’s economic resilience, likewise agree that Iran has the capacity to draw the conflict out, even if its people are made to bear the costs. “As breathing slows in parts of Iran’s economy, ample oxygen will remain for the country’s elite,” an expert wrote in Foreign Affairs.