Time is Iran’s strongest ally
What President Trump appears to underestimate is that Iran and its terrorist proxies—Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis—are not negotiating in good faith. They are playing for time. Every delay, every ceasefire, every diplomatic maneuver buys them what they need most: the opportunity to outlast the current political climate until the 2026 midterm and 2028 presidential elections.
Their calculation is straightforward. If Republicans lose enough seats in Congress, the political foundation of America’s unwavering support for Israel becomes significantly weaker. Iran does not need to defeat Israel militarily if it can gradually erode the political will of Israel’s strongest ally.
As I argued in a recent article, support for Israel has already dangerously eroded, particularly among younger members of the Democratic Party. The longer the conflict continues, the greater the opportunity for anti-Israel narratives to take root, public fatigue to grow, and political pressure to mount. Iran understands this dynamic and is exploiting it. Time, not territory, is its most valuable strategic asset.
Looking beyond the midterms, this strategy positions Tehran favorably for the 2028 presidential election. The Democratic Party of today bears little resemblance to the party of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., or even Bill Clinton. A growing socialist movement has shifted the party dramatically to the left on issues involving domestic policies, Israel and the Middle East.
That shift has empowered organizations and activists aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), whose rhetoric is frequently unabashedly hostile toward Israel and Zionism. In addition, its leading voices also advocate sweeping changes to America’s economic and political systems that depart sharply from the constitutional principles and free-market democracy that have helped make the United States the world’s leading defender of individual liberty and inalienable rights.
Western policymakers too often measure strategy in election cycles, budget years, or four-year presidential terms. The Iranian regime measures strategy differently. It thinks in decades and generations. More importantly, it is driven by an ideological and religious worldview that prizes patience, endurance, and the pursuit of what it believes to be a divinely ordained end of history. It is willing to absorb setbacks today if they advance its long-term objectives tomorrow.
The hourglass contains only so many grains of sand. While America debates, campaigns, and changes administrations, Iran patiently watches the grains fall. It believes time is on its side.
Until the United States and its Western allies recognize that they are confronting an adversary whose strategic horizon extends far beyond the next election, they will continue to be manipulated by a regime that sees patience itself as a weapon. In such a contest, the greatest danger is not merely military weakness—it is failing to recognize that your opponent is fighting an entirely different war, on an entirely different timetable.
