Trump's Iran strategy: a war without end?

US President Donald Trump described the logic of the latest phase of the Iran conflict plainly: American forces waited until Iran had nearly finished rebuilding its radar systems — then struck them again. CENTCOM confirmed on Tuesday that strikes destroyed radar and air-defense systems, maritime infrastructure, mine-laying capabilities, and communications facilities inside Iran. Tehran responded with rockets and drones targeting US installations in the region.

The "mowing the lawn" approach

The strategy has an internal name borrowed from Israeli military doctrine: "mowing the lawn." It makes no promise of final victory. Instead, it aims to keep an adversary's military capabilities below a threatening threshold by attacking each time they are rebuilt. Applied to Iran, the approach means monitoring reconstruction milestones at the Strait of Hormuz — a chokepoint for roughly 20 percent of global oil exports — and striking when they are crossed.

Gains with an expiry date

In recent months, US forces have significantly degraded Iran's military capacity at the Strait of Hormuz and begun clearing Iranian naval mines. But these are not lasting gains. Iran continues to repair or replace radar arrays, air-defense positions, and anti-ship missiles. Bomb strikes can destroy specific installations; they cannot erase the underlying knowledge and industrial base that makes reconstruction possible. The result: rebuilding is delayed, not prevented.

This leaves Washington facing the same choice repeatedly — accept that Tehran will eventually restore its strength, or strike again and restart the cycle. Middle East expert Mona Yacoubian of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) warned as early as April that this dynamic risks becoming a "lasting low-level conflict." Neither side has a clear off-ramp. More world news