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Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dropped a blunt assessment on Fox News this week: Tehran is hurting, and the West — if it keeps its nerve — has a real opening to turn the screws. He called the moment an inflection point, warned the regime isn’t out of ammo yet, and urged sustained pressure rather than an early, messy handoff to diplomacy.
A rare strategic opening — if we don’t squander it
Pompeo’s argument rests on three plain facts on the ground: kinetic pressure from U.S. and allied strikes, a tightening naval choke on Iran’s ports, and growing unrest inside Iran. Put together, those tools are choking Tehran’s cash flow and its freedom of action in ways that didn’t exist a year ago — and that matters. If the goal is to degrade the regime’s capacity to export violence and to buy time for internal pressure to take hold, this combination is precisely the kind of leverage you want.
Danger doesn’t mean defeat
He didn’t pretend this is easy. Pompeo reminded viewers that Iran still fields ballistic missiles, espionage services, and a brutal domestic security apparatus. That’s reality: a battered regime can still inflict pain, lash out at shipping, or try to drag the region — and American forces — into wider conflict. For average Americans that means more naval patrols in harm’s way, longer deployments for sailors and Marines, and the kind of slow-burn risk that shows up in your newsfeed and at the gas pump.
Policy with teeth, not brochure platitudes
What Pompeo is selling is simple: more pressure, not less. Keep the sanctions, keep denying oil revenues, and sustain covert and overt support for those inside Iran who want change, while staying ready to counter lethal retaliation. That’s not regime-change cheerleading so much as cold political arithmetic — pressure forces options. The White House’s parallel diplomatic moves to reopen shipping lanes may have merit, but you don’t ease off the squeeze the second Tehran says it’s talking.
There’s a practical question every American should care about: do we want leadership that finishes what it starts or an administration that folds when the first hard bargaining begins? This isn’t abstract. Lives are on the line, and so is long-term regional stability. Are we prepared to see this through — with patience, prudence, and force when required — or will we trade today’s leverage for tomorrow’s regret?
