Did America Lose the Iran War? Robert Kagan’s Stunning Admission w/ Kyle Anzalone

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On this edition of Parallax Views, returning guest Kyle Anzalone, a longtime contributor to Antiwar.com and host of The Kyle Anzalone Show, joins J.G. Michael to examine the aftermath of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and the remarkable recent commentary of prominent interventionist and Project for the New American Century (PNAC) co-founder Robert Kagan. In a recent Atlantic article, Kagan argues that the failed war has fundamentally reconfigured the Middle East, with Iran emerging as the dominant regional power and gaining enormous leverage through its control of the Strait of Hormuz. But does Kagan’s assessment represent a genuine reconsideration of interventionism—or an attempt to reshape the narrative surrounding a war he now acknowledges has failed?

Kyle Anzalone breaks down Kagan’s evolving position on Iran, his history of advocating sanctions and regime change rather than direct invasion, and why Kagan’s prediction that war with Iran would go badly is complicated by his longstanding advocacy for U.S. pressure against the Islamic Republic. The discussion also examines Kagan’s recent admission that American intervention can produce blowback, his controversial contention that the Iraq War was ultimately a mistake of execution rather than necessarily of strategy, and his argument that the United States cannot simply disengage from the world without creating greater instability.

The conversation also looks at the Trump administration’s apparent shift from direct military strikes toward an intensified economic war against Iran vis-a-vis Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent's Operation Economic Outcast. Anzalone explains why China’s role in facilitating Iranian oil sales and financial transactions could make Washington’s sanctions strategy difficult to sustain and considers whether the new sanctions campaign is a genuine strategy or simply a way for the Trump administration to buy time and avoid admitting that the war has failed.

Anzalone also discusses reports concerning damage to U.S. intelligence and surveillance infrastructure during the conflict and what that could mean for Washington’s ability to conduct military operations against Iran. The discussion explores Iran’s ability to retaliate against U.S. assets and Gulf allies, the strategic significance of the Strait of Hormuz, and the possibility that the war has left the United States militarily depleted at precisely the moment Washington is increasingly focused on China.

Finally, Kyle Anzalone assesses Robert Kagan’s comments about Israel and the influence of pro-Israel forces on U.S. foreign policy, the limits of the interventionist worldview, and the increasingly dangerous possibility of another cycle of escalation—this time involving North Korea and Kim Jong-un. What does the Iran war reveal about the limits of American military power, the consequences of regime-change policy, and the future of U.S. foreign policy?