Advocates for regime-change think if the US squeezes Iran enough during the pandemic, the people will turn against the clerics. They made similar foolish conclusions about Iraq. They underestimate the power of nationalism. Iran has become a regional power in part because its people have solidified against sanctions.

The United States’ much ballyhooed conference in Warsaw, the purpose of which was to gather support for more pressure on Iran, is now over. This exercise in futility did not gain the so-called ‘benefits’ that President Donald Trump and his racist, jingoistic cohorts had hoped. Rather, it exposed disagreements between the U.S. and many of its allies, and worsened some of them.

The day before the midterms Donald Trump reimposed sanctions on Iran and Israeli PM Netanyahu lavished praise on him as “courageous, determined” in an embrace that is sure to aggravate American Jews growing distance from the Jewish state.