Fifty Ways to Leave Iran

by Paul Larudee, published on Substack, July 28, 2026

There must be fifty ways to leave Iran.

Forget victory, Mallory. Skip defeat, Pete. No need for a treaty, Tweety. Erase ceasefire, McGuire. Drop the MOU, Hugh. Don’t negotiate, Nate. Stay out of the news, Toulouse.

Just go home. Collect your stuff and walk away. Not complicated.

It worked in Yemen. Biden tried to bomb Yemen into submission. After spending more than a billion dollars on the effort, he decided it wasn’t worth it, and let it fade away. It was no longer a news item. Trump thought he could do better with more bombs and aircraft and by throwing good money after bad. They both caused plenty of death and destruction, but the Yemenis conceded nothing. The US ended up with empty hands, and eventually so did the news coverage.

That’s when Netanyahu came calling and whispered to Donald, “Try it on Iran. It’s a sure thing. We’ll help. It will heap glory on you.” So, with the assurance of Bibi and his Mossad chief David Barnea, who both swore to fight to the last American GI, and against the advice of US military and intelligence analysts, Trump jumped in with both feet.

The result? After twelve days of assassinations and military attacks in June, 2025, Israel suggested taking a break because their Iron Dome turned out to be made of tin foil instead, and there wasn’t enough left of it. Their big US brother was running low, too, and calling in munitions from stockpiles around the globe. Iran’s response? “If you don’t attack us, we won’t attack you.” So it ended up on the back burner for about six months.

Then, in January, 2026, the US tried a 21st century version of Kermit Roosevelt’s 1953 CIA overthrow of the popular Iranian government of prime minister Mohammed Mossadegh. In this version, the CIA, MI6 and Mossad would use their proxies and operatives to create an uprising, which would be used to justify an invasion and regime change. It failed, and the invasion was called off.

The latest attempt began February 28, much like in June, 2025, starting with more of Bibi’s assurances, aerial attacks by the US and Israel against Iran, and escalating reprisals by Iran. It also included blockage of marine traffic through the Strait of Hormuz except by Iranian permission, and later a secondary US blockade.

For what? The US is failing miserably. Its casualty rate is being suppressed, and its equipment and installations throughout the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula have been mostly destroyed, to the tune of a trillion dollars or more. Global stocks of US weaponry have fallen so low that it is becoming risky to use the remainder.

In the meantime, Iran’s weapons and production facilities remain safe deep underground, in increasing numbers and real time effectiveness and sophistication. The US can destroy and weaken the civilian infrastructure, but Iran’s ability to hit back is undiminished and plausibly increasing.

So what’s the point? Any further use of US weaponry is self-defeating, and only continues to block traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, diminishing the supply of global fuel and petrochemicals, sending the prices higher, shrinking the world supply of food and impoverishing more of its population.

The solution is not to do more, but rather less. Pack up, go back to your homes, and let Iran and the rest of the region work out their own arrangements. To do otherwise is to make matters worse – for them and the US.

Find a new con, Don.

And let us all free.