President Donald Trump on the South Lawn of the White House on April 28, 2026 in Washington, DC. Chris Jackson/Pool via REUTERS
Two months have passed since the Trump Administration, with the help of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, launched Operation Epic Fury — a series of military airstrikes against Iran. President Donald Trump is saying that the United States' Iran operation may be wrapping up soon, but many Trump critics fear that the war could drag on a long time.
Retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling examines the state of the Iran war in an article published by the conservative website The Bulwark on February 29, arguing that strategically, the operation is missing some crucial points about warfare.
"When the (Trump) Administration talks about Iran," Hertling explains, "things are portrayed as deceptively simple. That's likely because people in the administration are counting missiles, launchers, ships, and command nodes. They're estimating how much of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps remains intact. While those may appear to be useful metrics, they create a dangerous illusion — that war can be understood through numbers alone…. For Iran, that center of gravity is not its arsenal. It is its institutions —most notably, the IRGC and the clerical establishment under the supreme leader, though how much the current supreme leader is actually in charge of either of those organizations is doubtful at the moment."
Hertling continues, "These are not just instruments of power; they are the regime's foundation. They enforce internal control, propagate the regime's ideology, and direct military and economic activity."
According to Hertling — who served as commander of U.S. Army Europe under former President Barack Obama — the "fight" in Iran is much more "complex" than Trump realizes.
"We can strike visible targets and still struggle to influence the underlying source of strength," Hertling emphasizes. "Just as different weapons, formations, and tactics are necessary for driving an opposing army from the field of battle, or capturing a city, or destroying a command post, the forms of power necessary to degrade Iran's military capability might not be those necessary to attack its decisive points…. A few real questions remain. Are we truly affecting Iran's center of gravity? Have we identified decisive points that matter, or just those that are visible and that we can strike?"
Hertling continues, "What are we missing as we work through the fog of war? And how is Iran using uncertainty and friction as a tool against us?"
